


Not Your Everyday Fairy Tale

by Hypnotisera



Category: Whose Line Is It Anyway? RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-16
Updated: 2017-04-16
Packaged: 2018-10-19 14:29:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 24,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10641783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hypnotisera/pseuds/Hypnotisera
Summary: Greg being Greg pisses off the wrong person. He's turned into a dragon to teach him a lesson, but he has no idea what that lesson might be, and and he definitely doesn't want to learn it, whatever it is.Colin has his own share of problems, such as his protective but well meaning mother, the queen; a wig that makes everyone in the kingdom believe he's a woman; a dragon kidnapping... Oh, and he falls in love, its a huge problem, really it is...Ryan is a knight who just wants to retire to a secluded farm and raise sheep; but does he get to do that? No, he has to slay a dragon and save a prince.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on LJ in July 2014, and reposted here to save it in case LJ dies.
> 
> This was also in response to a prompt: Greg is a wizard who has been turned into a dragon. To solve the spell he needs a princess. Colin is a bald prince with a wig that often gets mistaken as a princess. Greg kidnaps Colin, but can't tell why the spell isn't working. Colin won't tell him the truth cause he's afraid of being eaten. Ryan is a knight, out to slay the dragon and save the princess. They all live happily ever after.

There was a magical castle high atop the tallest mountain, in the mountain range known among the locals - living at the foot of the range – as the Mountains; and to cartographers as the Whoserland Alps; and in every tourist brochure it was known as 'Whatever You Do, Don't Go There. There are Bands of Centaur Bandits.' Despite the terrible location and the risk of being attacked by bandits, Greg Proops had still moved into the castle. He had first built a magical wall around the castle, which seemed to have worked seeing as it had been many years since Greg had seen a centaur anywhere near his part of the mountain range.

It was therefore not centaurs that had him in a bad mood on this particular day; it was the meeting he'd just left, Greg really hated the bi-annual meetings of MUU. _Magic Users United_ had probably seemed like a good idea at some point, Greg couldn't remember ever agreeing with that statement. He always left the meetings feeling frustrated and angry, not even being met at the door by his loyal kitten could cheer him up, instead he slammed the door to the castle shut behind him.

Grumbling and muttering Greg walked through the corridors of his castle in a corner of Proopnation, it was of course not a real nation, but one drunk night Greg had named it Proopnation in his head and it had stuck in his mind. The Queen wasn't very likely to challenge him for it anyway, no one could be so desperately in need of a mountain that they would take it by force.

Kittens McTavish bounded next to Greg as he entered his study. Books, papers and rolls of parchment littered every available surface; a path had been cleared from the door to Greg's desk, and they had to walk between piles of books as tall as Greg, and boxes overflowing with scrolls. Greg pushed a stray paper to the side with his foot, and continued to his desk and sat down, flipping open the book he'd been reading before he'd been so rudely interrupted by the meeting.

He had only read a paragraph when there was a knocking at the window. Greg looked over and saw a great big owl pecking angrily at the window. Greg sighed and rolled his eyes, only an antediluvian such as Clive the Clever – a name he had given himself, and in Greg's opinion he did not deserve it – would still be using owls to send messages.

“Kittens,” Greg said. Kittens had been playing with a ball of scrunched up paper, which Greg now captured from the kitten's claws. He nodded towards the window, and the orange tabby started clambering across the obstacle course that was Greg's study to the window, where Kittens unhooked the clasp keeping the window closed. The owl flew inside, making an annoyed sound and Kittens toppled backwards. The owl, its name was Tony, landed next to Greg and stuck its leg out, Greg took the message from the leg and shooed the great bird. Tony gave Greg an annoyed look.

“I don't have any treats for you,” Greg said. The owl seemed to look even more unimpressed before it took off, flying out the window. Greg sighed and started to read the message.

 _“Twat-”_ Greg read. Clive had never been one for pleasantries. _“I did not appreciate your comments today. In particular I found your comment that I was a spineless maggot very unfounded and ridiculous. Your suggestion that I grow a pair of ovaries has been taken under suggestion, but I think I'll be keeping my balls, and yes they do in fact exist, regardless of your insinuations. I am still the head of MUU, and as such I feel I deserve a certain modicum of respect. If nothing else I can always teach you a lesson, which I feel might be more conducive to your personal growth. I've cursed this message, and when you've finished reading it, it will self destruct, cursing you as well. You will need a princess to break the curse, but really the moral of this lesson will be you learning to love yourself and others. You know, the usual stuff. Good luck.”_

Greg stared at the message for a moment, before it burst into flames.

“Holy kittens,” Greg exclaimed and dropped the burning paper, it landed on the desk in a pile of ashes. Greg stared for another moment, a bad feeling settling in his gut. There was a loud pop followed by a cloud of green smoke filling the entire study, and all that could be heard was Greg shouting.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuckety fuck, fuck.”

~*~

In a less mountainous region of Whoserland, Prince Colin of the Mochrie family – may their name rule forever more – was picking apples. He didn't have to pick apples, he was the prince after all, but sometimes he just had to get away from the castle and his mother – Queen Laura the tenth regent of Whoserland from the Mochrie family – and her overbearing protectiveness and impossibly high expectations.

The apple orchard was a perfect hiding place because his mother hated apples. It was only because Colin's late father had loved apples that the Queen hadn't eradicated all apple trees from her kingdom, and also common sense.

Colin was sitting high up in the tree on a branch, picking apples and dropping them down in a barrel below him, when he heard the sound of hooves approaching. He looked towards the sound and saw a knight in shining armor, astride a brown horse that looked less than happy about its lot in life.

The knight stopped below the tree and pushed up his visor, looking up at Colin.

”Fear not fair maiden for I will rescue you,” the knight called out.

”I don't need rescuing,” Colin protested and then it hit him exactly what the knight had said, ”and I'm not a-” he started, but stopped with a sigh, and a shake of his head. Shaking his head meant he had to put the wig right again, the wig had been made when it was high fashion for both men and women of nobility to have long flowing locks of hair, and this wasn't the first time someone had made the mistake of thinking Colin was a woman. Colin had started going bald at the age of twenty, and the wig was a gift to him from his mother. He loved and adored his mother, and he couldn't break her heart by not appreciating her gift.

The main reason he gave up his protests now was because the knight had started his rescue attempt, and all Colin could do was sigh and shake his head. The knight got up on his feet on the back of his horse and started to reach for Colin, who was seated not only comfortably but also quite safely on a branch, when the horse spotted the barrel of apples and walked over to it. The knight lost his balance and tumbled to the ground.

Colin sighed again and climbed down the tree. Meanwhile the knight sat up and looked at the horse with a betrayed expression.

“Really Cocoa? This is how you repay me for saving you from that gnome?” The horse ignored him.

Colin walked up to him and held out a hand to help him up. The knight bit his bottom lip, grabbed Colin's hand in a firm grip and Colin pulled him up to his feet. The knight brushed himself off, his rather attractive face almost bright red, eyes not meeting Colin's as he opened his mouth and stammered slightly on the first few words out of his mouth.

“I... uh, right, yes, perhaps you didn't need any help.”

“Not really no,” Colin said, with a warm smile, people had often told him it was a very reassuring smile that made them instantly feel better about themselves.

“I'm Jeff,” the knight said, holding out a hand.

“Sir Jeff?” Colin asked, shaking the proffered hand. Jeff looked down at the ground – Colin hadn't thought it possible but the other man seemed to blush even more – and with a bashful look on his face said:

“Not quite. I'm still in training.” He sighed with a shake of his head. “I just got a bit impatient. You hear all these stories about exciting adventure, and I wanted one myself. You know, glorious fights, saving princesses, passionate kisses from the grateful people I save. That sort of thing.”

Colin stopped himself from saying that he wouldn't mind making out with Jeff, despite him not actually having saved Colin from anything. Jeff was after all very attractive, although a tad bit younger than the men Colin usually went for. He preferred them closer in age to himself.

“I understand,” Colin said instead. “I'm Colin.”

Jeff raised an eyebrow in question and looked at Colin.

“And is that a common name for princesses in these parts?” Jeff asked.

“Not really no,” Colin said, With a partly amused, partly resigned expression on his face. He really had to get a better wig, or perhaps stop wearing it. His mother didn't have eyes everywhere, at least he hoped she didn't. He'd done some things that no mother should ever see, most of those things involving his penis.

“Well,” Jeff said slowly, thoughtful look on his face as he gave Colin a once over. “It's nice meeting you prince-” he hesitated and Colin nodded. “Colin.” He smiled at Colin, a smile that was part charming and part the sort of smile you'd see sharks show you before they ripped your limbs apart. Colin had never seen a shark he had only heard tales of them from drunk ship captains whenever they visited the court and foolishly said yes when the Queen challenged them to a drinking contest, she had never lost.

“Wanna do some kissing and heavy petting in the grass before I have to leave?” Jeff asked.

Colin chuckled and smiled.

~*~

Being a dragon had its pros and cons Greg had discovered. First of all he looked amazing with oily black, thick scales; a huge wingspan, the wings reminiscent of bat wings, mottled in black and dark orange, with the tips of the wings a lighter orange; he had two short horns on his head, also they black and orange; on his right front leg, where on his arm he had worn several bracelets, he now had a thin orange line circling that leg.

He could breath fire now, which was a lot more devastating than when he spewed vitriolic comments fueled by anger, from his mouth. He had sharp claws and even sharper teeth, if he'd lived in an alternative universe were Tolkien had already lived and written the Hobbit, Greg would have made a reference to his claws being spears, his teeth razorblades and his wings a hurricane.

Some drawbacks came with being a dragon. Breathing fire got a bit boring after a little while, he had never been big on destroying. He much preferred magic of creation, to magic that brought needless destruction, and this meant that burning down barns and instilling fear in people didn't have a high appeal to him.

There were also other issues such as reading being very difficult when he couldn't turn the pages, nor could he write – he really wanted to pen a letter to Clive and tell him just what Greg thought of his sense of humor if turning Greg into a dragon was something he found funny – and he couldn't fit on his bed anymore. There were many smaller details that really bothered him, which was why after three days he went out in search of a princess.

~*~

Colin's day had started out fine, the sun was shining, the air was warm but not too hot, birds sang in the trees, bunnies frolicked in the meadows making more tiny bunnies. Earlier Colin had seen a hawk swoop down and catch one of the bunnies, it had been a sad sight, but that was life and the hawk had a good day.

In the palace rose garden the roses were in full bloom in a variety of colors filling the whole garden with the smell of roses, unlike the city outside the castle walls which was filled with the smell from the docks whenever the wind came from the wrong direction.

Prince Colin had left both the rose garden and the city – he was allergic to roses and hated the smell of dead fish from the docks – in favor of taking a short walk in the forest and look for a quiet, secluded place to read. He had managed to ditch the body guard his mother always insisted Colin bring with him wherever he went, even though Colin was a grown man and could take care of himself. He had had the best sword fighting instructors money could buy, and from the private lessons he'd had with them Colin had picked up one or two things about sword fighting.

The path Colin had been walking on ended in a clearing, and Colin had taken one step into the clearing when a large black dragon landed in the middle of it. Colin screamed in surprise and fear because: _'holy fucking shit a dragon!'_

The dragon tilted its head to the side a bit and looked at Colin, who noticed it also had faint orange markings around its eyes, almost like glasses.

“I followed you from the palace,” the dragon said, its voice surprisingly nasal for a dragon, Colin would have expected it to be deep and booming, “You are a princess right?” the dragon asked.

“Uh.” Colin stopped screaming. He was going to run away, but first he felt the need to correct the dragon's false assumption about Colin's gender. “I'm part of the royal family, but-” Colin started, but the dragon interrupted him.

"Great,” it said and sounded excited.

Colin stared in fear and tried to get his legs to move and start running, but it was too late. The dragon moved with surprising speed on its feet, and with one large clawed paw gripped Colin tight around the waist making sure to not hurt Colin with the claws.

“I need a princess," the dragon said, and with a jump it threw itself up in the air, spreading its wings, it flapped them twice to gain altitude before it started to glide through the air. Colin screamed during lift off, but then the dragon changed its grip and Colin was sitting in its palm, large fingers protectively cradling him.

“For what?" Colin asked, because he really wanted to know why he was being kidnapped by a dragon. "If it is for a human sacrifice then I have to tell you that I-" he was interrupted again, the dragon seemed to like interrupting others.

"Human sacrifice? What? What do you think I am? Some kind of monster?"

"Well-" Colin started but the dragon didn't hear him.

"I would never sacrifice a human! I don't even dabble in blood magic. Do you know how unhygienic that shit is? No, I just need a princess to break this curse, and you will be perfect for that. I'm Greg by the way. Greg Proops the Wizard. You may have heard of me.”

Colin had not, and he was reasonably certain he would have heard about it had there been a huge magic using dragon living in the kingdom. He'd only heard of one magic user and it was a witch who had started visiting his mother fourteen years earlier, a year after Colin's father had died. All the staff members said she was a witch, Colin had never seen her performing any magic, but his mother smiled a lot more after her visits.

“I'm Col-” Colin started and then stopped himself. He did not want to do the surprised: _'I'm actually a man not a woman'_ -conversation while mid air in case Greg in surprise at being so wrong accidentally dropped Colin. “It's short for Colette,” Colin improvised thinking quickly on his feet, even though he was in fact sitting down and not actually on his feet. “But I hate when people call me Colette.” He was probably going to have to continue this charade until he could escape. If Greg wanted a princess Colin would pretend to be one for as long as possible, just to make sure Greg didn't eat him in case he found out the truth.

They flew up into the alps and soon descended near a remote mountaintop, Colin sighed on the inside, making his way home was definitely not going to be a stroll in the forest. They landed on the wall of a black castle, where the dragon gently put Colin down on the stones. He noticed that while the slabs of rock making up the castle were black, they shimmered in a deep purple color as well, making them seem magical.

“Well, then,” the Greg said. “Welcome to the Castle of Proopitude.”

“The castle of Proopitude?” Colin couldn't stop himself from asking.

“I was drunk,” Greg muttered.

“That doesn't explain why you are still calling it that,” Colin said, possibly about to prove his mother right all the times she had told him that his mouth was going to get him into trouble. He should not be questioning a dragon why he called his castle the name he had chosen.

“Whatever,” Greg said. Colin breathed a relieved sigh, clearly he wasn't about to become dragon food just yet. “This is home,” Greg continued.

Colin struggled for a response to that, that would also smooth over his earlier questions.

“Cozy,” he said. Greg turned his head and gave Colin a quizzical look, that made Colin cower a little bit.

“Let's go inside,” Greg said.

They walked to a large door with a chain that Greg pulled on and the double doors swung open.

“I had to kidnap a bunch of construction workers to make some of the doors wider,” Greg said and then seemed to add to himself: “There's been a lot of kidnappings in my life lately.”

Colin licked his lips and swallowed nervously, he was about to ask what had happened to the construction workers once they were done, but he stopped himself. He didn't want to know. Greg didn't seem interested in eating Colin, but he couldn't rule out that possibility just yet, and regardless of how non-threatening Greg seemed at the moment he had kidnapped Colin, and he had just admitted to kidnapping a bunch of other people, _what if he flew into a rage if he found out that Colin wasn't a princess?_ No Colin had to be careful and quickly figure out a way to escape.

When the doors opened a kitten came bounding up to them, meowing happily and first brushed up against Greg's leg, purring very loudly and then looked at Colin with what Colin thought was a very demanding expression.

“That's Kittens McTavish,” Greg said. “He wants you to pick him up and carry him. I'd suggest you do so or he'll be waking you up at some ungodly hour in the middle of the night for the rest of your stay here.”

Colin picked up the kitten and it purred happily as Colin carried it inside, and he followed Greg through the corridor. It was clear that construction had been done because the walls looked a lot newer than the castle had done from the outside.

“I've had a lot of time to remodel the castle,” Greg said as they walked. “I've been looking for a princess for months,” he looked at Colin. “Can you believe out of every single royal family in the neighboring kingdoms not a single girl, only boys.”

“Really,” Colin said, coughing. “You don't say.”

Greg shook his head and looked away from Colin.

“I was beginning to think someone had cursed all the royal families,” Greg said. “But then, I was lucky and spotted you as I was flying back home.”

Colin didn't say anything, he didn't quite agree that it was a lucky occasion.

“What exactly do you need me for?” Colin asked. “You mentioned something about a curse?” Colin still wasn't entirely convinced this wasn't going to end in a human sacrifice kind of ritual with him as the sacrifice.

They walked down a wide staircase and came down into another corridor, in this one the walls were lined with large paintings.

“I was turned into a dragon by the head of MUU.”

“MUU?”

“Magic Users United,” Greg explained. “It was an odd curse and I'm not entirely sure what you are supposed to do,” Greg said. “Clive was a bit vague about that bit. At first I thought as long as I had a princess here for a little while it would go away, but I have a better idea.” He looked at Colin again. “I have a lot of books on magic, somewhere in them there has to be something about the curse he used, and if I know what it is I can reverse it, but I can't read them anymore because I can't turn the pages, but you can turn the pages for me.”

 _'That sounds simple enough',_ Colin thought with a frown, he kept thinking that until Greg poked his head in through a door and said:

“And this is my study.”

Colin looked past his head and into the room and when he saw the piles of books, the many scrolls and all the papers he sighed, this was not going to be simple, it was going to take a long time.

“Either way you'll have something to do while you are here,” Greg said, looking at Colin before looking at the books in the study once more. “He did say a princess would solve it all.”

Colin wanted to groan and bury his face in his hands, but instead he forced a smile.

“Great,” he said. “We should start.”

Greg gave him a blinding smile, the sharp teeth far too close to Colin for his comfort.

“I'm glad you're so eager,” Greg said. Colin couldn't tell him it wasn't so much eagerness as a desperate need to escape that fueled him.

~*~

Sir Ryan Stiles was the knight who all alone had protected the town of Sasquatch from the _Ferocious Yeti Insurgents_ , FYI for short. Only five yeti were members of FYI, not counting the very pissed off troll in charge. Whenever anyone brought up this incident Ryan always wondered if he should explain that it hadn't been some grand battle that he'd fought all on his own, he'd just negotiated with the troll, and they had all come to a peaceful solution, Ryan hadn't even drawn his sword during the whole process.

He was also credited for having put an end to the Screaming Forest, it was now the Laughing Forest, and last month he'd bested a fearsome chimera terrorizing a city in the south, that one had actually involved some actual fighting and bloodshed.

Now Ryan was standing in the throne room in the grand castle belonging to the beloved Queen Laura of Whoserland. He was surrounded by a bunch of fresh faced young knights, all of them at least twenty years younger than him, and he had to face that he was in fact growing older. To himself he could admit that maybe it was soon time to think about retiring.

He had saved up quite a fortune from all the reward money he had been given for various deeds he'd accomplished. While he wasn't by any measure a cheapskate – he knew how to have a bit of fun every now and again – he'd still saved up a lot of money, enough to buy himself a farm and raise sheep for the rest of his life. Some would argue that retiring at forty three was early, but when you worked as a knight you had two choices: retire by choice, or someone or something would kill you. Compared to the option of being killed, raising sheep on a farm actually sounded like quite a nice plan, he just wished he had someone to share it with.

What he didn't like however was other people commenting that maybe he was getting a little too old for the knightly life. When Drew had suggested that maybe Ryan should look into a position teaching at the _Academy for New Knights_ Ryan had snorted and gone off to deal with the chimera in the south. He had returned triumphant, though the triumph only lasted for a short while. It was once again Drew's fault that Ryan had answered the summon from the Queen and not said: _'I respectfully bid your pardon your Majesty but I'm too old for this shit'._

“My beloved son, Prince Colin has been kidnapped by a dragon,” the Queen said, above them on the low platform her throne was standing on. She wasn't sitting on the throne, instead she was pacing restlessly back and forth in front of the knights gathered. A low murmur spread among the knights surrounding Ryan.

“Prince? I thought she had a daughter?” Ryan heard one of the knights next to him say.

“No, he's definitely a guy,” another knight whispered. Ryan thought he recognized him as a newly knighted knight named Jeff Davis. Drew had pointed him out during the big knighting ceremony at the Academy and told Ryan that he had high hopes for the kid, if Jeff ever learned to not get himself into bigger trouble than he could handle. Ryan though that saving a prince from a dragon seemed a little too ambitious for a kid that had only been a proper knight for about a month.

The Queen coughed on the stage reclaiming everyone's attention, and once she had it she glowered at all of them.

“As I was saying Prince Colin,” she said, and she put a lot of emphasis on the word _'Prince'_. “Has been kidnapped by a dragon. I have gathered you all here because you are supposedly the best and brightest knights in my realm.” She looked at all of them with a very judging expression. “For my son's sake I really hope you are at least the best my country can offer.” She sighed. “I would go and save him myself but all of my advisers,” here she looked behind her at a group of men standing on the platform behind the throne, they all shrank down and cowered from her glare. “Have told me that it would be terribly irresponsible of me to risk my life as well, especially when there are no other heirs to the throne.”

“And not likely to be any more,” a knight behind Ryan whispered under his breath. Ryan stepped backwards onto the knight's foot, because that comment was just disrespectful in every way possible.

“This is why I am sending you all out to rescue my boy, slay the bloody dragon, and bring my son back to me. Do you understand?”

Ryan was pretty sure the _'boy'_ in question was Ryan's age, and so should probably be called a _'man'_ not a _'boy'_. He wisely did not voice this opinion.

“Do we get a reward for this?” a knight asked. The Queen looked at the man, and if looks could kill the man would have imploded on the spot, spraying all near him with blood and guts.

“Get out,” she said, and pointed at the doors. When the knight was too slow to move she waved to two of her personal guards, Ryan recognized them as Kathy and Heather, he'd been in the same class as them at the Academy. The two women had been very accomplished knights protecting the realm once, before they joined the Queen's personal guards. They walked up to the knight, grabbed him by the arms and dragged him out of there. The Queen waited until they were outside and turned to the knights again.

“I have to remind you once again apparently that I am your Queen and demanding things in a impolite manner will not be tolerated,” she said and paused, giving them all a very stern look before she continued. “You will be richly rewarded with anything you ask for if you bring my son back unharmed and alive.”

At this all the knights started shouting things such as _“I will bring him back to you,”_ and other similar statements before all of them rushed to the doors. She looked at them and sighed very deeply, a look of resignation on her face. Ryan was the only one standing still, and heard her say:

“And try to remember he's a prince and not a princess.” She sighed again, shaking her head dejected. “I really thought he would appreciate that wig. I was told it was fashionable.”

She spotted Ryan and gave him a questioning look, almost a frown but with a slight raise of her eyebrow.

“You're still here,” she said.

“I was just wondering your Majesty,” Ryan started, “but did you get any reports about which direction the dragon took your son?”

She glanced towards the doors, the stampede of knights had left the room. She looked back at Ryan a slightly amused expression on her face.

“Maybe there is a clever one among you after all,” she said. “North. Towards the alps.” She gave him a small smile.

“Please find him and make sure he's safe, Sir.”

Ryan pulled his sword from its sheath, the polished blade glinting in the sunlight streaming in from the large windows in the throne room. He placed the sword tip on the stone floor before kneeling down on one knee, the joints in his knees protesting only a little; one hand holding the sword hilt, the other a closed fist over his heart; and with a voice, deep and rough from age – and occasional drink and smoke – but still strong and filled with belief he said:

“I will do my utmost to bring him back to you my Queen.”

~*~ 

Colin's escape plan had been put on hold. Partly because he had never been a fan of mountain climbing and therefore had no experience of it, but also partly because it wasn't too bad staying in Greg's castle.

After breakfast, which he always had in his room – a very spacious room with a four poster bed, a bookshelf, a desk, and a huge wardrobe which was mostly empty – he spent the morning in the great hall, flicking through magic books he couldn't understand. Greg would read over Colin's shoulder, making impatient or annoyed noises if Colin was too slow to turn a page or if he was frustrated that they still hadn't found the correct spell.

The first few days Colin had carried all the magic books into the great hall, because Greg couldn't fit inside his own study very comfortably. So they stayed in the great hall, where they also had lunch together.

A week into Colin's stay Greg showed him the other library where he kept the non-magic books, and so Colin had started spending some time there reading books he'd read before, books he'd planned on reading but not gotten around to, or finding new exciting books he'd never even heard of.

Sometimes he wandered around the castle garden, surrounded by the tall black walls. It wasn't a very well kept garden, bushes and grass had taken over, the only bit of it that was tended to was a small patch of soil where Greg was growing herbs.

In the evenings they sat in front of the fireplace discussing books or other matters, but mostly books. Colin discovered quickly that they had roughly the same taste in books, had both of them read the classic authors and had very differing opinions on their merits as writers. They were also both fans of the speculative fiction genre and whenever they started on those books they would stay up long into the night. 

A month passed without Colin even reflecting on how long he had been there. He did realize though that he quite liked Greg's company. He could be a bit grumpy at times, especially during the first few days, but soon Colin realized that Greg was very funny, not only could Colin make him laugh, but Greg also made Colin laugh. Greg was smart as well, sometimes a little too smart, there were times when Colin could understand the urge to transform Greg into something else - Colin wouldn't have picked a dragon though. As time passed, Colin felt more comfortable telling Greg off when he was being an arrogant prick, and several of those times Greg actually apologized, once he even blushed, that was how Colin chose to interpret it when Greg looked away, and a hint of orange started to show between his scales, Greg had even mumbled out an apology. 

Greg was also very caring, always concerned with Colin's well being and tried his best to accommodate Colin and fulfill his wishes. It was this side of Greg that eventually made Colin feel comfortable enough to one day, a month and a half after he'd been taken to the castle, say:

“You know, Greg, I don't really think I'm working as a solution to this curse.”

“So I've noticed,” Greg said. “It's very odd.” He looked a bit perturbed, and there was frustration in his voice.

“Can't you just take me home instead?” Colin asked.

Greg went quiet and looked away from Colin, he let out a breath and left the library without a word. Colin looked after him confused by Greg's reaction.

Later that evening when Colin went to the great hall for dinner Greg wasn't there, but all of Colin's favorite food was piled up on the long table which had been cleared from books and papers. Colin ate in silence.

~*~ 

Greg had a huge problem, and it wasn't the fact that he was still a dragon - although that was a problem, he could not understand why so far it hadn't helped having a princess in the castle, he was so close to having Col take dictation so that he could write a strongly worded letter to Clive, but that would mean admitting that he couldn't figure this out on his own, and he refused to admit to that - the more pressing problem was of a different sort altogether. He liked Col, he liked Col a little bit more than he had expected to like Col, in fact Greg had started to develop quite strong feelings for the princess currently living in his castle, quite strong feelings of the romantic kind.

If Greg hadn't been a dragon he thought that maybe Col would have developed similar feelings, but as it turned out that had only been wishful thinking on Greg's part. She'd expressed a wish to go home, and Greg knew he should grant her that wish, he wanted to make her happy, but selfishly he also wanted to keep her around because he still wanted to turn back, but mostly because he enjoyed her company.

He watched her outside in the garden, had not spoken to her since the day before. She was beautiful, but more than that he was captivated by her as a person. The way she was opinionated, could go toe to toe with him in any discussion, her honesty and frankness, and she made him laugh. He had not been in love in ages - not since Jen left a decade ago - and here he was smitten once more, a small part of him wondered if he'd been put under a spell, he hoped not, he was really tired of being cursed and didn't want to add bewitched to his current track record.

Later that evening he joined Col for dinner, pretending nothing had happened and that he hadn't been avoiding her since the day before.

“What do you want to do with your life?” Greg asked halfway through the meal, he'd been painstakingly trying to eat in a civilized manner and failing spectacularly, so instead he gave up on eating for now, he could eat something else later when he was alone.

Col raised an eyebrow, Greg missed his own eyebrows, while he was pretty good at making semi understandable expressions with his new dragon face it just wasn't as expressive as when he was human.

“I'm the royal heir,” Col said. “I've pretty much had my whole future planned for me since birth. Besides even if I wasn't, I'm forty four, it's a bit late for that question isn't it?”

Greg tried to raise an eyebrow, and then had to stop himself from making a frustrated sound.

“It's not necessarily too late. Depends on what you have in mind of course, it’s probably too late to become the youngest published author in Whoserland."  
"There's that kid in the west," Col said, "They were, what, eleven?"

"Ten," Greg said, and shook his head. "It was just a way to create publicity though if you ask me. That's just too young to be publishing a book, especially when it wasn't even that great."

He glanced at Col and caught her looking away from him quickly, a small smile on her lips. 

"Anyway," Greg said. "If you were allowed to choose what would you have done?” Greg asked.

Col looked down at her plate in deep thought. Greg studied her, the little wrinkle at her brow when she frowned, beautiful eyes so far off in thought. She looked up at him after a moment.

“I wanted to stand on stage,” Col said.

“Theater?” Greg asked, curious. She nodded.

“Yes, I actually did some for a while, but then,” she sighed. “It seemed pointless to continue.”

“Did your mother influence that feeling?” Greg asked. Col had talked a bit about her mother, and while Greg got that Col loved her mother, she also thought that her mother was a bit overprotective and too involved in Col's life even now that she was a grown woman.

Col hesitated before looking away and nodding a little.

“I guess.” She looked back at Greg. “Did you always want to be a magician?”

“I certainly didn't have any dreams of becoming a dragon,” Greg said with a snort. Col chuckled and she had the most endearing crow's feet at the corners of her eyes and Greg couldn't stop staring at them, at least being a dragon stopped him from smiling like a sap. He really had a huge problem.

After a mental shake of his head to stop thinking about it he started to tell Col of the time when he was a kid and tried to build a catapult that would take him to the moon, before his father stopped him. 

~*~

After asking around in the villages in the north of Whoserland – and riding past a small farm that looked exactly like the one Ryan wanted to live on himself – he had found out that there was in fact a dragon that had shown up all of a sudden the previous year. It supposedly lived somewhere in the mountains, so Ryan was forced to travel further north and also up in the mountains.

It was late in the summer and so mountain climbing wasn't as bad as it could have been – especially after he found the forgotten half overgrown path winding its way up one of the mountains – but Ryan still wished he'd stayed at home and continued to work on his retirement plan instead. There were a lot of other knights out and about on this mission, he was sure – reasonably sure – that any of them could do this instead. He also could not shake the feeling that he was being followed.

~*~ 

Colin was walking in the garden again, it was a secluded place where he was allowed to think, and Greg rarely came out there. Colin was dealing with a huge dilemma – although 'dealing' was not the right word at all since he wasn't actually dealing with it so much as he was wishing he could just ignore it, but he couldn't – his presence at the castle of Proopitude was not having any particular effect on Greg's predicament, something that wasn't particularly surprising to Colin. Greg would start to question the lack of progress though, it had been more than a month and a half at this point. Colin should tell him, should stop this charade, he was by this point sure that Greg wouldn't eat him, but another thing prevented him from telling Greg now.

Colin liked Greg, a lot, and he didn't want to lose the trust they had built up between them. He was afraid that if he told Greg now, Greg would be pissed off and throw Colin out of the castle for being dishonest and false. Colin would love the opportunity to go home – if for no other reason than to tell his mother he was fine and she had nothing to worry about – but he would also like the opportunity to return to Greg, he wanted to continue their discussions on books, on theater, on stories, and on life in general.

His thoughts were interrupted by a sound coming from the back of the garden near the wall, it sounded a lot like a grappling hook hitting the top of a large stone wall and the hook catching on the other side of the wall, Colin's side of the wall. Colin frowned and walked slowly towards the wall.

Looking up at the top of the wall he spotted something shiny and glimmering, with four hooks, two of which had caught onto the wall. Where the hooks of the grappling hook connected with the stone, the wall seemed to be pulsating angrily in different purple hues, from deep purple to lavender to a bright shiny purple and back to a dark purple again.

Colin continued to look up at the top of the wall, and soon spotted the head of a man poking over the top and climbing up on the wall. He pulled up the rope and then let it down on the inside near where Colin was standing. The stranger climbed down and soon stood in front of Colin. He was tall, taller than Colin, wearing a light armor of hardened leather which had to be a lot more suitable for climbing than some suits of armor Colin had seen; he had an open and pleasant face, red from exertion and when he saw Colin he smiled, a smile that would have made Colin a little bit weak in the knees if he wasn't so perplexed by the man's sudden appearance.

“Prince Colin?” The stranger asked.

“You don't think I'm a woman?” Colin asked in surprise. The man grinned. “Wait, wait,” Colin sad, remembering all of a sudden. “You can't reveal that I'm a man.” Colin looked behind himself at the castle, to make sure Greg hadn't suddenly shown up behind him and could hear them.

“What?” The man asked. Colin turned back to him.

“What's your name?”

“Ryan,” he answered, looking perplexed.

“Okay, Ryan, just call me Col and don't let on to the fact that I'm a man. I haven't told him yet.”

“What?” Ryan asked, and sounded very confused now. “I'm here to rescue you,” he added.

Colin frowned.

“From what?” Colin asked. Why did knights constantly presume he was a damsel in distress in situations that weren't the least distressing? Though this one actually knew that Colin wasn't a woman, which was for the first time a bad thing in case Greg caught on to it.

“The, uh, dragon,” Ryan said, sounding a little bit uncertain now.

“I've been here all summer,” Colin said. “Isn't it a bit late to show up now?”

“Hey, it took a while to find the right mountain and then get all the way to the top,” Ryan protested, a bit defensive. “My horse is exhausted. I'm exhausted and despite that I am fully prepared to slay this dragon.”

“What?” Colin exclaimed, eyes widening as he stared at Ryan, who was looking at the castle with a determined expression. “You can't kill Greg.”

“Greg?” Ryan asked and turned to Colin.

“Yes, Greg,” Colin said. “I can't let you just kill him.”

Ryan seemed to consider that for a moment and then shrugged.

“Fine, I've never been a fan of needless killing anyway,” he said. “So are you coming with me?”

Colin gave him an unimpressed look.

“You can't just barge in here and ask me to go with you,” Colin protested. He had more to say, but at that point there was a loud thud behind him, sounding a lot like a large dragon landing behind Colin. Ryan looked away from Colin, so Colin turned around and saw Greg coming towards them. He looked angry in a way Colin had not seen him before, eyes narrowed and taking deep breaths, expanding his chest and showing off tiny hints of dark orange between the scales.

“Who are you?” Greg asked in a booming voice. Ryan started to pull out his sword, Colin put a hand on his and stopped him with a shake of his head.

“Don't,” Colin mumbled.

Greg let out a dark rumbling sound, almost like a growl. Ryan pushed Colin aside, quite rudely, in Colin's opinion.

“I'm Sir Ryan Stiles,” Ryan said.

“Never heard of you,” Greg said with a scoff. He towered over Ryan, and using his front paw he pushed Colin to the side and then behind him.

“Hey,” Colin protested, both of them ignored him.

“I don't care if you've never heard of me,” Ryan said.

“Huh,” Greg said. “I thought all you knights only cared about your reputation.”

Colin took a step forward when a hand was put over his mouth, and an arm wrapped around his chest, pressing one arm to his side, and took hold of his other arm, to keep him from fighting as he was pulled with his back against the cold metal of a chain mail behind him, all he could do was let out a grunt of protest as the person behind him started to pull him backwards. Both Greg and Ryan the Knight were busy arguing and didn't notice what was happening to Colin.

He struggled, but the person holding him was ridiculously strong, and so he was dragged through the castle and out on the courtyard where two horses - one white and the other brown - were waiting. Colin was slung unceremoniously over the back of the white horse. Before Colin could jump off, the knight got up behind Colin, placed one hand on Colin’s back and gathered the reins with the other. The horse started moving, and glancing behind them Colin saw the brown horse hesitantly following them, its reins tied to the white horse’s saddle.

“Who the hell are you?” Colin asked. “What the hell are you doing? Where are you taking me?”

The knight waited until they had left the courtyard before he made any move to answer. As soon as they were on the path on the other side of the large gate the knight pushed up the visor, revealing that it wasn't a man but a dark skinned woman.

“I'm lady Aisha,” she said. “I'm saving you and taking you back to your mother.”

“I'm forty four fucking years old,” Colin muttered. “I think I can decide whether or not I want to be brought back to my mother.”

“Do you want me to gag you and tie you up?” she asked, in a voice that clearly said she would tolerate no arguing from Colin.

“I'm fine,” Colin said.

“Good,” she said.

Colin sighed, and really hoped that Greg and Ryan weren't trying to kill each other.

~*~

“I was going to bring her back,” Greg protested. He couldn't understand why this knight couldn't understand that.

“Yeah, really,” Ryan said with a scoff. Greg narrowed his eyes and lowered his head so that he was closer to Ryan's face, Ryan did not flinch. Greg let out a hot warm breath into Ryan's face. Ryan scrunched up his nose.

“When's the last time you brushed your teeth?” Ryan asked.

“Do you have any idea how difficult it is to brush your teeth when you are a dragon?” Greg asked, feeling offended all of a sudden and he pulled away from Ryan. “No, you don't, because you have never been cursed and transformed into a dragon because the leader of your guild or whatever you knights have, has a warped sense of humor.”

Ryan frowned.

“Did he have a reason for turning you into a dragon?”

“No,” Greg shouted and let out a small fireball that landed in a nearby tree, setting it on fire. “Holy kittens!” Greg exclaimed. He ripped the tree up with its roots and beat it against the wall until the fire was out and then he dropped it to the ground. Ryan was staring with eyes wide open. Greg brushed his paws off and turned back to Ryan. “As I was saying. He didn't have a reason.” he paused and thought about it for a moment. “Well, I think he might have wanted to teach me a lesson; but I'm a grown man, I don't have any lessons I need to learn.”

“You are a dragon,” Ryan pointed out. Greg gave him an annoyed look.

“Yes, for now,” Greg said, long suffering, “But I'm really a man.”

“If you say so,” Ryan said.

“I just need the princess to help me figure this out, and then I will bring her back. I've been a perfect host,” Greg said. “Gone out of my way to make her comfortable.”

“And yet completely failed to notice that-” Ryan started but at that moment Greg had stopped listening because he had turned to Col to ask her to agree with him that he had been a great host, except she wasn't standing behind him.

“Where's Col?” Greg asked. He felt a spike of fear and worry shoot through him. He turned around in a circle, Ryan had to jump out of the way so as to not be hit by Greg's tail. He stopped and looked at Ryan again, lowering his head to glare threateningly at him.

“Did someone come with you and grab her?” Greg asked, growling.

“I came alone,” Ryan protested. Greg frowned, and then with a mighty jump he leaped into the air. He circled his castle at a low altitude, scanning the castle grounds and the area just outside the wall. He discovered that the front gate was open, and so he returned to the garden and landed with a thump on the ground. Ryan was still standing there.

“How did you get here?” Greg asked.

“By horseback,” Ryan said. “Why?”

“Because there is no horse nearby,” Greg said. Ryan's eyes widened.

“My horse has been stolen?” Ryan asked upset.

“Looks that way,” Greg said, frowning. “By the same person who must have kidnapped Col.”

“You kidnapped him first,” Ryan pointed out.

“Can we not use that word?” Greg asked, then looked back at Ryan. “Wait, what?”

“What?”

Greg lowered his head and gave Ryan a scrutinizing look.

“Why did you say him?” Greg asked, feeling tense all of a sudden. Ryan gave him a long look, hesitating for a moment before taking a deep breath and exhaling.

“Because your princess is a prince,” Ryan said.

“What? No,” Greg protested. He didn't want to believe that was true, but Ryan's voice and expression was so honest and earnest. He also would have nothing to gain from lying about it, so why would he lie about it?

“He is though,” Ryan said. "His mother sent out knights to find her son, she made it very clear that it was her son we should rescue."

Greg blinked. Feeling hurt and dejected.

“He lied,” Greg said. He looked away from Ryan and tried his best to hide the hurt from his voice, he wasn't sure how good he was at it. “Why would he lie?”

“I don't know,” Ryan said. The compassion in Ryan's voice made the sting of hurt almost worse. Greg closed his eyes. Col had been lying to him, had he not trusted Greg? If he had lied about that, what more had he lied about? Was anything Col had said true?

“I have to talk to Col,” Greg said, he opened his eyes again, and clenched his jaw, preparing himself for flight. The person who had taken Col would make their way down the mountain, but Greg would be faster flying.

“Colin,” Ryan said. Greg turned to him. “His name is Colin.”

Greg nodded. He turned away, but Ryan continued talking.

“Bring me with you.”

“What for?” Greg asked, turning to him once more. “You also want to take Colin away.”

“Better me than the other person?” Ryan asked, going for a winning smile. At the back of his head Greg noted that it was a very nice smile. Outwardly though he scoffed.

“Unless you take me with you I can't leave your castle,” Ryan said. “I need my horse back.”

Greg looked at him closely.

“You are not secretly a princess are you?”

Ryan gave him a confused but at the same time amused look.

“I'm not.”

“Oh well, then there's really no reason to keep you in the castle. You can come.”

“Thank you,” Ryan said, in a dry tone.

“Climb up on my back,” Greg said. Ryan hesitated, giving Greg a worried look.

“I am not going to hurt you,” Greg said, a little bit impatient. He saw Ryan take a deep breath before climbing up on Greg's back. Greg squirmed a little bit, unused to having someone seated on his back.

“I need something to hold on to,” Ryan said.

Greg frowned, the knight had a point, he was probably going to fall off otherwise. Greg put one paw on a long branch of the tree that he had dropped to the ground. Closing his eyes and muttering a few choice words, he tapped into the source of his magic. Letting it flood through him, a wave of power rushing through his veins, through his fingers and into the branch. He didn't have to open his eyes and look to know that a purple light was emitting from his hand and surrounding the branch, he imagined it transforming, twisting and turning into a long thick rope. It was all over in a matter of seconds and soon he was holding a rope.

“Tie this around me.”

“Okay,” Ryan said. Greg took a deep breath and held it, as Ryan slid off of Greg's back. He was taking a big chance now. Trusting this complete stranger who had after all come here intent on killing him. This temporary truce was a gamble, but he reminded himself, it was a gamble for Ryan as well.

Ryan put the middle of the rope against the top of Greg’s front left leg, where the leg and body met; he wrapped it once around the leg, before slinging one end across Greg’s back; crawling underneath Greg, he brought the other end of the rope with him; he wrapped it once around the right leg, before he climbed up on Greg and tied the two ends together tightly.

“You ready?” Greg asked once it was all done. He didn't get a response right away, but a second later it came.

“I'm ready.”

“Hold on tight,” Greg said. He didn't wait for a response instead he leaped up into the air. Ryan screamed at first in surprise, but when Greg flapped his wings it turned into a cheer, and Greg couldn't hold back a smile.

~*~

Flying on the back of Greg, holding tight onto the rope had been scary but also exhilarating. The whole experience served to further convince him that after this particular adventure he was definitely going to retire.

They had been flying for hours and night was falling when Greg landed on a cliff near a cave.

“They must be on a road I can't see from the sky, or making their way down some way I am unfamiliar with,” Greg said, thoughtful as Ryan slid off and landed on the ground. Shaking his body, trying to get his hands to stop being so cold and cramped he looked at Greg.

“We could wait at the foot of the mountain?” Ryan suggested. “They have to come down eventually.”

“True,” Greg said, nodding. “We'll stay here for the night and continue tomorrow.”

“Why not fly down now?” Ryan asked.

“I,” Greg paused and looked away from Ryan. He was quiet and then shook his head. “They won't travel in the dark, it's stupid. We can wait for dawn.”

Ryan frowned but then nodded. Greg was his transportation now, he figured he should leave it up to him. Ryan turned to the cave instead.

“Are we sleeping in there?” he asked. Greg nodded.

“Yes, not many animals can reach this cliff, so the cave should be empty, more importantly it is dry and keeps us out of the wind.”

“All of my bags were on my horse,” Ryan said. He liked his horse, he hoped whoever had taken it was treating it well.

Greg smiled, a secretive dragon smile.

“Leave it to me,” Greg said.

Greg entered the cave first and Ryan followed. It was a large cave, high ceiling and wide, deep enough for them to keep them out of the wind, but it didn't continue on deeper inside the mountain. The first thing Ryan noticed however was the signs of people having been there at one point. There was a fireplace in the middle of the room, a ring of stones and dry wood next to it. A crate stood at the back of the cave, and Ryan walked closer seeing a couple of empty wine bottles, dusty and covered in spider webs.

“People have been here,” Ryan said.

“A long time ago,” Greg said. There was a note of longing in his voice, longing and wistfulness. Ryan turned to him and saw Greg shake his head before turning his head to the fireplace, Greg breathed out fire, a thin flame that ignited the dry wood, and soon the cave was filled with the sound of crackling fire and the light flickered on the cave walls.

“How about food?” Ryan asked, feeling a bit hungry, it had been a very long day. Greg smiled again, touching a couple of rocks they started shining in purple before they turned into a loaf of bread, and a piece of cheese.

“Without herbs that's the best I can do,” Greg said. “They won't taste great.”

Ryan walked over and picked up the food, before turning to Greg.

“What about you?”

“I'm not hungry,” Greg said. Lying down near the fire, like a cat, he folded his legs underneath himself and placed his tail on the floor at his side. Ryan looked around for somewhere to sit.

“You might as well sit with me,” Greg said, with an amused expression on his face when Ryan looked at him. “It'll be the warmest and most comfortable spot.”

Ryan hesitated. Greg looked away from him and stared into the fire instead, the flames reflected in his eyes. Ryan took a breath and walked over, clambering up on Greg's tail he sat down in the cradle of Greg's tail and the side of Greg's stomach. The scales warm against Ryan, it felt a little bit like leaning against a fire but without the risk of being burned.

“You really are nothing like I had imagined a dragon would be,” Ryan said.

“That's because I'm not a dragon,” Greg said.

Ryan was quiet for a moment, taking bites out of the bread. Greg was right, it was a bit dry, and had a strange dusty feeling to it as he chewed, but it was food.

“You still have your magic though,” Ryan said.

“More or less yes,” Greg said.

“Why can't you turn yourself back?”

“I've tried, believe me, I've tried, but Clive was a lot smarter than I gave him credit for.” He sighed. “If I could only find the spell he used then I can figure out how to counter act it and turn back.”

“Or learn whatever lesson he was trying to teach you.”

Greg snorted in amusement and Ryan smiled. After how they'd met it surprised Ryan how at ease Greg made Ryan feel, how comfortable he was to be around. He was starting to see why Colin's insistence that Ryan not kill Greg made perfect sense. What had first been completely baffling to Ryan, was starting to seem perfectly natural. The concern and worry Greg was showing about Colin's disappearance seemed genuine, in the light of how Greg was now trying to help and take care of Ryan as well.

They sat in silence, Ryan finished off the bread and the cheese, watching the fire.

“How did you know about this cave?” Ryan asked after a while. Greg didn't answer right away, instead the cave was silent, except for the sounds coming from the fire. Ryan had time to regret asking, before Greg finally opened his mouth again.

“I used to come here once, a long time ago with someone I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with.”

“What happened?” Ryan asked.

“She left,” Greg said. “I had my moments of romance, but they were few and far between,” he said , with a sigh. “I was a self-centered ass. More interested in my work than to care for those around me.” He was silent again, taking a deep breath. “She did the right thing in leaving,” Greg said. “It wasn't fair to her to expect her to stay.”

Ryan looked at Greg, his head turned away from the fire and eyes closed.

“I make everyone leave eventually,” Greg said with a sigh. Ryan looked back at the fire, the flames dwindling as the wood was turning to ash.

“I never let anyone get close enough in the first place,” Ryan said after a long moment of silence. “I never give myself the opportunity to push them away.”

“That's what I've been doing ever since as well,” Greg said. Ryan nodded. They lapsed into silence again. The fire turning to embers, but Ryan didn't get chilly as the fire died down. He was lying on a dragon that was warming him up, and soon he drifted off to sleep.

~*~

It was early dawn the next morning. Greg was sleeping curled up around Ryan, keeping him cradled in Greg's warmth. He woke slowly because of an itch behind his left ear, he grumbled slightly and started moving. Ryan made an annoyed noise.

“Rise and shine brave knight,” Greg said, amused as he watched Ryan waking up, blinking with bleary eyes at Greg, his hair standing in every direction, he yawned and stretched, his back making an audible cracking sound.

“I am too old to sleep outside,” Ryan grumbled and got to his feet.

“And here I thought I made a comfortable bed,” Greg said, mock indignation. “You were snoring pretty loudly after all.”

“You were one of the better beds I've had,” Ryan conceded with a small smile. “But nothing beats a real bed, and if this adventure is going to teach me one thing it's that retiring to raise sheep, is definitely the way to go.”

Greg tilted his head to the side, and looked at Ryan, who was patting his hair down.

“Retiring, already? I'm sure you must have many years left of doing knightly things.” 

Ryan snorted.

“You are the only one saying that.”

“Well, perhaps you shouldn't listen to what others are telling you,” Greg said. "Except for me of course." Greg grinned, and Ryan smiled back.

“Perhaps.”

They left as soon as Ryan had eaten something. Greg was in a hurry to leave, he didn't want to stay in the cave longer than he had to, it wasn't as painful now, but it was still a reminder of a time he'd rather not think about.

Greg launched himself into the air and started to fly down the mountain, keeping his pace slow and flying quite close to the ground. Colin and whoever had taken him couldn't have made it down the mountain already, and Greg didn't want to spend time waiting at the foot of the mountain, he wanted to catch them before then.

He had been flying for about an hour and a half when Ryan shouted to him, as loud as he could to be heard over the wind.

“Wait, down there! That's my horse!”

Greg stopped and hovered, scanning the ground, he spotted what could be a blurry outline of a horse. Greg took aim and flew in the direction of the horse, once he was closer he descended and landed nearby. Ryan jumped off of Greg and ran towards the horse. It was a dark brown horse tethered to a tree, standing on three of its legs, holding the fourth up.

“She’s hurt her leg,” Ryan said after looking over the horse. Greg started to walk closer, but the horse's eyes widened, it flared its nostrils and looked at Greg with fear in her eyes, trying to hobble away from Greg. 

Greg backed away, lowering his head, feeling dejected he closed his eyes. He could help, he knew how to help. Healing people or animals had never been his specialty but he knew how to do it and he was decent at it, but he had to touch the injury for it to work.

“I can't help,” he said looking away. “If she won't let me near I can't help. I want to. Believe me.”

Ryan sighed.

“I know you do,” he said, and the conviction he said it with was enough for Greg to feel a little bit better.

Ryan took a deep breath, setting his jaw, and straightening he turned to Greg.

“Let's continue. We can come back for her later.”

Greg nodded. Ryan patted the horse on the neck once, he gathered his bags from the saddle, tied them to the rope around Greg and got up on Greg’s back again.

“They can't have gotten far,” Ryan said. Greg nodded and took flight once more.

~*~

“You know this feels more like a kidnapping than when I was kidnapped by the dragon,” Colin said. His current situation had gone from bad to worse. During the night they had continued to travel down the mountain, which had been a mistake. Colin had said it would be a mistake, Aisha had not listened. The second horse – Ryan's horse, Aisha had explained – had been injured and they had left it tied to a tree. According to Aisha, Ryan wouldn't be able to catch up anyway, even if he hadn't been killed by the dragon, Colin hadn't bothered arguing against this, but he doubted Greg would kill Ryan.

They had made camp and Colin had wandered off in the dark, Aisha had captured him again, and annoyed at his escape attempt she had tied his hands together and then fastened them to her belt, saying that this way she could keep track of him. So now he was sitting tied up behind her on the horse, and wondering if somehow Aisha and his mother could be related – however unlikely it might seem – because her approach to bringing Colin back to the castle felt like something Colin's mother would have done.

“I'm rescuing you,” Aisha said. It was the first thing she had said in hours. Colin was unsure if she was just a naturally taciturn person, or if she just didn't want to talk to Colin. He hoped it was the first explanation, but he had a feeling it was the latter.

“That's what the Ryan guy said as well,” Colin said. “Why is it so difficult to believe I could have saved myself?”

“Because you've been there all summer,” Aisha suggested, without a hint of humor.

“Ah,” Colin said. He didn't have a good response to that.

Fortunately – or unfortunately depending on how someone looked at it – Colin was saved from further embarrassment as at that point a hungry mountain lion showed up.

It was a young mountain lion with very little experience, and not terribly good at hunting, it jumped up on a rock next to the horse and roared.

The horse threw itself to the side, Colin tumbled off it, and pulled Aisha with him. He rolled over the edge of a rocky outcropping, and started to fall down screaming. 

He stopped falling with a sharp tug on his arms, and he found himself dangling in the air. Looking down he could see sharp rocks a mile down. He looked up and saw Aisha, one hand had grabbed onto a rock ledge holding herself and Colin. With her other hand she was holding the rope tied to Colin's hands, a rope with a knot that was loosening Colin realized.

The sound of galloping hooves quickly receded and they heard the mountain lion let out a dismayed roar, before it too presumably left the scene.

“Help!” Colin shouted.

“That isn't going to help,” Aisha snapped. Colin ignored her.

“Help!”

“Stop shouting,” Aisha shouted. Colin looked up at her and glared.

“What else should I do?" Colin asked. "Do a show stopping number with singing and dancing?”

“Can you swing closer to the rock wall and see if you can find a place to stand on?” Aisha asked.

Colin scanned the wall, spotting what could be a narrow ledge on the rock. Wriggling he tried to work up some momentum to move and start to swing. He heard Aisha make a pained groan, but it was her idea so he tried to ignore that. He also tried not to think about how the loop around his wrists was being pulled over his hands, he did his best to hold on to the rope.

He managed to swing closer to the wall, hitting it and scraping his cheek against the rough rock. He let out a pained whimper, and then scrambled to get purchase on the wall. He was able to put a foot on a rock ledge, putting some weight on his foot and off his wrists. Letting go of the rope and hoping the loop around his hands would stop slipping he pushed his fingers against the wall and was able to catch hold with his fingers in an indentation on the rock wall, keeping himself pressed up against the wall.

He had no idea how he would get out of this situation. For once he was actually in distress and needed saving, but the only knight nearby was in the same predicament as him. 

“Help!” Colin shouted again.

“Col!” shouted a familiar voice. Colin looked up and saw Greg flying over the cliff edge above them.

“Greg!” Colin shouted, just as the rope around his hands slipped further. “Oh fuck,” Colin muttered. At the same time as he stepped down with his other foot, he slipped and fell backwards. The rope started to catch him, but then the loop slipped over Colin's hands, and he fell screaming again.

Greg swooped down through the air.

Colin's whole life was flashing in front of his eyes; the first time he walked and almost caused a royal disaster when he wanted to show off his new found skill, stark naked in the throne room, in front of the very prude royal family from the neighboring kingdom. The first time he rode a horse: his first kiss – with a very enthusiastic girl a couple of years older than him – the first time he got an injury; the first time he was praised for something by his mother. He'd reached the less exciting parts from his late twenties, when he stopped falling.

He landed on his side on Greg's back, and started sliding, but then a strong warm hand wrapped around his wrist. He looked up and saw Ryan half sitting, half lying there, one hand gripping a rope tightly and the other holding Colin's. Ryan smiled and Colin smiled back.

Greg flew up to the top of the cliff, and there he swooped down low over the ground. Ryan lost his grip on the rope, and he and Colin tumbled off of Greg's back; they landed in a heap on each other; with Ryan on top of Colin looking down into Colin's eyes, and Colin looking back into Ryan's. 

“You saved me,” Colin breathed out.

“I suppose I did,” Ryan whispered, a small beautiful smile on his lips.

~*~

Greg flew down to the knight hanging by her fingernails, her teeth clenched and she refused to look at Greg who hovered next to her, watching as she tried to climb up.

“Do you need any assistance?” Greg asked.

“No,” she grumbled. She had let go of the rope and now put her other hand on the stone ledge, heaving herself up she started to climb, when she lost her grip and fell.

Greg caught her in one paw and flew her up to the top of the cliff, setting her down gingerly.

“I didn't,” she started turning towards him. Greg landed and looked at her.

“It's okay to accept help every now and again,” Greg said.

She sighed and looked down at the ground.

“I owe you my life.”

“Yes,” Greg said. “So perhaps instead of trying to kill the dragon you should turn around and leave the mountain?”

She shook her head and let out a mirthless chuckle.

“I really could have used the reward,” she said.

“You seem like a competent knight,” Greg said. “I'm sure you can find another way.”

She looked up at him and smiled.

“You are a strange dragon.”

“Have you met many dragons?” Greg asked. She shook her head.

“No.”

“I wouldn't expect any others to be like me if I were you,” Greg said. She turned and took a step away and then turned around again.

“Thank you,” she said.

“Don't mention it,” Greg said. She turned and started walking.

“Actually do mention it,” Greg called out. If she started a rumor that he wasn't a fire breathing monster there wouldn't be any more knights showing up to try and kill him. He had to see about improving the security up at the castle.

He turned around to Colin and Ryan and spotted them several feet away. Ryan was lying on top of Colin, both of them having only eyes for each other. Greg sighed before closing his eyes and lowering his head. The knight saving the princess, or in this case the prince, the way every story ended. He turned and walked a bit further away before taking to the air. Colin and Ryan could make their way down to the foot of the mountain and then carry on back to Colin's home. Where Colin would be reunited with his mother and Ryan would win fame and glory for having saved the prince. 

Greg sighed again, trying to ignore his own feelings, bottling it all up, locking them away where they wouldn't bother him. 

~*~

“Where's Greg?” Colin asked, after what felt both like an eternity as well as no time at all.

“What?” Ryan asked.

Colin pushed Ryan off and sat up looking around. He couldn't see Greg anywhere, and a large black dragon would have quite a hard time hiding. Colin frowned and got up to his feet looking around, noticing that Aisha was gone as well.

“He can't just have left,” Colin muttered. “Why would he leave?” he asked, confused. He turned to Ryan who was getting up from the ground.

“Well-” Ryan started, “I might have told him you were a man and not a woman.”

Colin stared at Ryan.

“I told you not to,” Colin exclaimed.

“It's not my fault,” Ryan said. “I got confused, I accidentally said 'him' instead of 'her'”

“It's definitely your fault.” 

“Well, in either case he knows and,” Ryan hesitated, giving Colin a look that had Colin looking away from him. “Maybe he just doesn't have a use for you anymore.”

“No, that's not it,” Colin said, squaring his shoulders. He looked up towards the top of the mountain where the castle lay. He started walking. “I'm going up there to talk to him.”

“Wouldn't it make more sense to go with me back to your home?” Ryan asked.

“Not yet,” Colin said. “You can come if you want to or you can go back down.”

Ryan sighed and shook his head, but he still caught up with Colin and walked with him.

It was going to be a long trek all the way up the mountain again, but an hour later luck was shining on the two again as they came across Aisha's horse grazing. Colin smiled, watching as Ryan had to capture the horse. Eventually they could both mount the horse, Ryan taking the reins and sitting in the front with Colin behind him.

Even on horseback they still had to stop for one night of sleeping outside. They lit a fire and sat on opposite sides of it. Ryan was very silent, not saying much and looking away from Colin and staring into the fire. It suited Colin fine because he wasn't in the mood to talk, instead he was getting increasingly angrier and angrier because of Greg. He couldn't believe he'd just left like that, without a word. He also did not want to believe that Greg had left because he found out Colin was a man and therefore no longer useful or worth anything to Greg. Colin was tired of being treated like an object passed back and forth, and tired of being judged based on usefulness. As if those reasons weren't enough to be angry over, there was something else, a feeling in his chest that made him even angrier, but he couldn't explain why.

They reached the great gate around noon the following day. Colin had never been on this side of the wall, and now he looked up at the large black gate wondering not only how they would get inside, but also how Aisha had managed it. 

“Now what?” Ryan asked. Colin frowned and looked at the two large black steel doors that made up the gate. They, unlike the wall, didn't have a purple shimmer to them.

“I don't know,” Colin mumbled, then looked at Ryan. “Knock?”

Ryan frowned and shook his head with a sigh, but he still took hold of one of the large iron rings fastened to the door. He pulled it up as if to knock, but the door slid open.

“Huh,” Colin said surprised. “I didn't expect that.”

“You never tried to escape this way?” Ryan asked.

“I thought it was locked,” Colin protested, while walking through the gate, followed by Ryan. “Why would I even try the front gate? Besides, maybe he just forgot to lock it this time.”

They started walking across the courtyard towards the steps leading up to the large front door to the castle, when the doors slammed open and Greg came striding through them.

“I really have to start locking the gate,” Greg muttered loud enough for Colin and Ryan to hear him. Ryan gave Colin a pointed look. Colin ignored him and instead he looked at Greg, who at that moment spotted Colin and Ryan.

“What are you two doing here?” Greg asked, walking down the steps to the cobblestone courtyard.

“You just left me,” Colin shouted, “us-” he corrected himself. “You left us. I can't believe you just-” he was interrupted.

“I thought you wanted to go back home,” Greg said.

“Well yes,” Colin said, not looking at Greg. Instead he looked at his own shoes and missed the way Greg's head lowered slightly and he closed his eyes. 

“But-” Colin started, but the rest of the sentence died in his mouth as Greg said:

“You lied to me.”

Colin looked up at him, but he couldn’t read Greg's expression, he couldn’t tell if Greg was angry or disappointed.

Colin opened his mouth to say something, but he never got the chance because at that moment a large fiery ball of iron and tar came sailing through the air and hit Greg, who yelped in surprise. The force with which he was hit by the ball made him stumble. Colin looked to where the ball had come from, a stranger had climbed up on the wall and turned two of the catapults to face the courtyard instead.

Colin turned to look over his shoulder at Ryan.

“Ry-” he started to shout, but Ryan was already running towards the stairs up to the wall. He wasn't going to be fast enough though, the figure on the wall set off the second catapult.

Greg turned towards the catapult, and - Colin realized - shielded Colin. Greg roared, before he was hit by a second ball, this one making him stumble again and trip himself. Greg fell to the ground. Colin stared with wide eyes, and then shook himself into motion. 

“Greg!” Colin shouted and rushed forward to Greg. 

At that moment it all clicked into place in Colin’s mind; he had been angry because Greg had just left him without an explanation; he had been hurt because the abandonment felt as if it was because all Colin had been was an object useful only for Greg’s personal gain rather than a person who Greg respected, and when it came down to it Colin had been discarded like he didn’t matter; and what hurt the most about it all was that Colin - in the moment he saw Greg fall - had realized that he cared very deeply for Greg and it crushed him thinking that Greg didn’t care about Colin in the same way. 

The man on the wall took up a longbow and aimed it at Greg.

Colin reached the dragon's head and he sank down to his knees, putting his hands on Greg's face, looking him over with worry. Greg opened his eyes and looked up at him.

“Colin,” Greg said.

“Greg, I-” Colin started to say, when a green light started emitting from Greg. Colin gasped and sat back, watching as Greg was encapsulated in the green light.

After what felt like an eternity the light turned color from green to a bright white light - which made Colin see dark spots, even when he closed his eyes - before it started to fade. Colin blinked a few times, and when he could see properly again he saw a man lying where the dragon had been; he was wearing dirty, ragged clothes, at one point they had been a suit, but now they were nothing more than pieces of cloth covering parts of the body; a pair of glasses sat crookedly on his face, and one lens had a large crack in it.

“Greg?” Colin said. He leaned closer and put a hand on Greg's shoulder. Greg opened his eyes and looked up at Colin.

“Hey, Col,” Greg said. “I feel strange.”

Colin smiled, before he looked up at the wall and saw that Ryan had caught the stranger. Ryan was now holding him in an arm lock and pushing him in front of him down to the courtyard. They were getting closer to Colin, talking loud enough for Colin to hear them.

“Well how was I to know he would put on a light show and turn back into a man?” The stranger said. “All I knew was that we were sent out to kill a dragon.”

“And to save a prince,” Ryan said. “What you were doing was endangering the prince's life.”

Colin turned back to look at Greg who had his eyes closed behind his lenses.

“Greg,” Colin said, biting his bottom lip in worry.

“Could you check my inner jacket pocket and see if there's a pair of glasses there?” Greg asked. “I can't quite get my arms to work properly.” 

Colin opened up the jacket, and put his hand in the pocket, pulling out another pair of glasses, with thick black frames, identical to the ones Greg was already wearing.

“I always have a spare pair on me,”Greg said. Colin smiled a little. Carefully he removed the broken glasses, and switched them out with the extra pair. Greg opened his eyes and looked up at Colin again; he was smiling, but there was a sadness to his smile that Colin couldn't understand the reason for.

“About before-” Colin started. Greg shook his head, looking away again. Colin could see him take a deep breath, his chest expanding and then exhaling, Greg pushed himself up so he was sitting turned away from Colin. Colin got up on his feet, he held out a hand to Greg and helped him up. Greg stumbled at first, and Colin put his second hand on Greg's shoulder to steady him, the first still holding onto Greg's hand.

Greg was avoiding looking at Colin's eyes. 

“Greg,” Colin said, he wasn’t sure what was happening. Greg took a deep breath and let go of Colin's hand, shrugging away Colin's other hand from his shoulder.

“You should leave,” Greg said.

“What?” Colin asked.

“You should leave,” Greg said and took a step away from Colin.

“What?” Colin asked again. “So this was really just about what you wanted? As soon as you have what you want you're throwing me out? That's what it's all about?”

Greg spun around with a frown on his face. 

“This is about you lying to me, Colin.”

“Well, I'm sorry about that but-” Colin tried to interrupt, but Greg continued.

“It's about how you were afraid of me, even though I did everything to make sure you had nothing to fear, and you still thought you couldn't tell me the truth. What did you think I was going to do, Colin?” He glared at Colin.

“I-” Colin bit his bottom lip. “I don't-”

“Just leave, Colin. It's what you've wanted to do since the beginning,” Greg said with a shake of his head before walking towards the doors to the castle. Colin couldn't do anything except watch as the doors closed behind Greg, and he felt his chest constrict and his stomach tensing up in knots, as something broke inside of him.

He stood there for a long moment, until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at Ryan who was giving him a compassionate look.

“Come on,” Ryan said. “He needs some time.”

Colin let Ryan lead him away from the castle, while he was feeling lost and confused.

~*~

The stranger who used the catapults introduced himself as Sir Brad of Sherwood, he promised not to try and kill Greg, now that he was a human again, and Ryan sent him off to make his way down the mountain himself. 

Ryan joined Colin on the horse, he sat in front of Colin again as they set off. Colin was being very quiet and Ryan didn't say anything either, but he wanted to ask Colin why he thought Greg had turned back; wanted to question Colin if he knew something more; Ryan had a theory, involving the lesson Greg had claimed he didn't need to learn, but he still didn't know what the lesson had been. 

Colin didn't say much while they made their way down the mountain, and since Ryan had never been big on talking anyway they had a very quiet journey in the beginning. When they reached the foot of the mountain, Colin seemed to snap out of the funk he was in and started talking more. 

A mile or so away from the mountain they met Sir Jeff who was traveling in the company of another knight named Chip, but when they were told that the dragon had been vanquished they turned around and headed west instead. Ryan and Colin continued south towards the coast and the capital where Colin’s mother was waiting.

They reached a town where Ryan bought a second horse, he could afford it, after all he was about to be rewarded with whatever he wished for. He wasn't feeling as excited about the reward as he probably should be; the events on the mountain had left them both with a strange feeling.

Ryan wasn't feeling the triumph of victory, but he was nonetheless determined to escort Colin back safely to make sure he wasn't kidnapped again by something else: another, actually evil, dragon; a gang of trolls; a unicorn; a love sick hippogriff – Ryan had seen that happen once – or just ordinary human beings.

The leaves on the trees were changing colors as they continued their journey. Slowly Colin was emerging from the shell he'd pulled in behind when they left the castle, he was talking more; answering Ryan's questions about his life; about growing up in the castle; sometimes when they sat on each side of the fire Ryan would just look at Colin with fondness as Colin told a story from his life. When Colin told a story it wasn't just with words it was with his whole body, expressions;  hand and arm movements; he would get up on his feet occasionally and pace back and forth. He made Ryan laugh - sometimes until Ryan was laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes - and when Ryan looked back at Colin the other man had a smug smile on his face, looking proud and amused.

Making Colin laugh became a challenge for Ryan, Colin brought out a side of Ryan that he hadn't been actively showing in such a long time. He was suddenly filled with silly jokes he had to share with Colin; Colin always gave him amused looks; sometimes an occasional chuckle, but because he never really laughed out loud it only served to make Ryan try harder. 

Ryan found himself wishing that their journey would never end, but like all journeys they all have a destination and sooner or later that destination is reached, this was no exception.

~*~

Greg had thought that Ryan's horse had been ill mannered because Greg had been a dragon at the time, but he quickly found out that the animal was just grumpy and mean to anyone. Greg danced out of the way of the beast's teeth that snapped shut right where Greg's arm had been a second earlier. Not knowing what the horse's actual name was Greg was calling it Marc – after a member of MUU – even though it was a mare, although most of the time he insulted it and didn't really need a name for it.

“Ungrateful monster,” Greg muttered. Marc tried to turn in order to be able to kick Greg. Seeing the imminent danger Greg jumped out of the stall and closed the door, the horse kicked the door making it shake from the force.

“Is this what I get for not only saving you but also healing your leg, taking you home and feeding you?” Greg asked. Marc continued to have her ears pointing back and glared at Greg.

“In the spring I'm going to have to try and find your owner,” Greg muttered and left the stable. It was too late in the year to embark on a journey, and Greg wasn't looking forward to leaving the mountain anyway.

He closed the door to the stable. The heavy rain drenching him almost immediately, and he hurried to the castle side door. Above him thunder was rumbling, and every now and again lighting would light up the whole sky.

He entered and locked the door behind him before pulling off his cloak and letting it drop to the floor. Kittens meowed from the floor and Greg picked him up.

“That monster Sir Ryan calls a horse almost ate me,” he muttered to Kittens, before placing the kitten on his shoulder. Kittens purred loudly in Greg's ear.

Greg wandered into the great hall, where the rain and strong winds made the tall windows rattle. With a flick of his wrist all the candles in the room started burning, illuminating all the books still stacked on the tables, because Greg hadn't bothered to put them all back in the study yet.

With a sigh he sat down on the bench, pulling a book closer to him. Kittens jumped down from Greg's shoulder and walked across the table to an empty fruit bowl in which he curled up and fell asleep. Greg looked at the book without reading anything on the page. 

Greg missed Colin. He had been alone for so long, he had thought he preferred being alone, but then Colin had been there and he realized he didn't want to be alone anymore. Colin had lied to Greg though, while Greg had fallen for Colin, Colin had been pretending, had been thinking of Greg as some sort of monster that would attack if Colin was honest with him.

Greg wanted to hold on to that anger, because when it slipped away all he felt was a crushing feeling of longing. He missed having someone else in the castle, missed having someone who made him laugh. He missed Colin.

~*~

Ryan did not like life at court. He had decided to stick around in the castle for a while, mostly because he wanted to spend more time with Colin, but unfortunately that also meant putting up with the nobility. Colin's mother was a very clever woman, and good at keeping the best and brightest around her, but not even Queen Laura could cull away some of the more frustrating members of the noble families.

Ryan had found out after the first week he was there, that among the landed gentry there had been a betting pool regarding the fate of Colin's life, and the fact that Ryan was the one to bring Colin back had made him disliked by a large portion of people. Ryan had in fact had the unpleasant experience of a man telling him straight to his face that: _“I wish you had let him die. I could have finally paid off the debt for the marble floors in my summer home.”_ Another time he overheard a duke telling his friends that he'd lost a lot of money betting that Lady Aisha would bring back the errant prince.

It was all rather disgusting, and added to that was the spreading of vicious rumors, some of them had even lead to people fleeing the capital after losing all their credibility and money. Ryan hated it, and he had started to think it wasn't worth it.

He knocked on Colin's door and after hearing Colin call out that he could enter, Ryan walked in. He spotted Colin right away standing next to a tall window facing the north, and Colin was watching the mountains with a far away look on his face.

That was another reason for why Ryan was feeling that perhaps it wasn't worth sticking around. He needed Colin, he'd been in love before, had wanted and lusted after people, had been crazy with the feeling, that exhilarating feeling of being invincible, in a way not even a battle going his way could feel. This was no different, and yet completely different at the same time.

Being around Colin filled something inside of him, all he could think about was how Colin made him want to be a better person; how Ryan wanted to make Colin smile and laugh and be happy. It should be enough, for some it would be enough, but it wasn't. Some days he got the impression that Colin felt the same, that they were on the same wavelength, it felt as if Ryan only concentrated a little bit harder they would be completely in sync and reading each others thoughts and feelings. Colin would smile whenever Ryan entered a room; when they happened to brush against each other a thrill went through Ryan's body; they would talk for hours, Colin listened to everything Ryan said, and Ryan was just as eager to listen to Colin.

Other days they didn't sync up at all, it felt as if something was missing. They would stumble over each other; say one thing but meaning another, because suddenly it was if they were speaking different languages. The easy way they would communicate was gone, the relaxed comfortable and secure feelings transformed to something brittle that could break with one word, with one wrong look. It made them both irritable, and yet Ryan wanted so desperately to make it work, but there was something missing. Something they'd abandoned but not been able to let go of.

“I could go talk to him,” Ryan said, because they both knew that was what it all came back to in the end, the unfinished business high up on a mountain.

Colin turned to face him with the question clear on his face.

“What?” Colin said.

“Greg, I could go and talk to him.”

Colin turned away and shook his head.

“No, there's no need.” He sighed. “He made it quite clear.”

Ryan waited a beat, and then said.

“I can't stay here, Col.”

Colin turned to him, looking resigned, as if he had been expecting this. Bad news he knew would eventually reach him. Now he was resigned, and yet Ryan could still see the hurt, the disappointment, and it made Ryan's chest constrict. He wanted to take it back, but he couldn't. It wasn't fair for either of them.

“I know,” Colin said. “I know you, Ryan. I know this isn't where you belong.”

“I am sorry,” Ryan said, sighing, “but I can't stand this place,” Ryan said. “I know it's your home but-”

“I understand, Ry, I do.”

And the worst thing was Ryan knew he did. Knew that Colin understood, that the things Ryan felt Colin could feel as well, but he was more used to them. Out of necessity, Colin had to stay, he had no other choice.

“Of course you do,” Ryan said. “You preferred to spend a whole summer in a castle in the mountains with a dragon.”

Colin turned away again.

“It was a bit more than wanting to get away from here.”

“I know,” Ryan said. “It was a joke.”

A bad joke, but it had still been a joke, he couldn't help himself.

“Tell him,” Colin paused, and Ryan had a good look at Colin's profile and could see him biting his bottom lip. He sighed and shook his head. “I don't know.”

“I think I know what to tell him,” Ryan said. He walked up to Colin and put a hand on his back, and Colin turned his head to look at Ryan. “You can't continue like this,” Ryan said. “I can't continue like this.”

It was breaking them both in two, but Ryan had to go away, he had to leave. 

Without breaking eye contact, Colin turned, so they were standing face to face. Ryan let his hand drop from Colin’s back. Colin lifted his hand, brushing his fingers against the back of Ryan’s hand; for a moment Colin’s hand hovered in front of Ryan’s chest, almost reaching out and touching him before Colin sighed and let it drop. There was something in Colin’s eyes, something that made Ryan almost regret his decision. For a moment Ryan hesitated. He trembled on the ledge of uncertainty, not sure if he should let go or hold on.

“Will it be any different somewhere else?” Colin asked.

“Probably not,” Ryan replied honestly. He looked into Colin's eyes. “Come with me.”

Colin breathed in and held Ryan's gaze for another moment before looking down at the floor.

“Mother gave me another lesson on duty earlier today,” Colin said and sighed. “I can't.”

Ryan looked down at the floor as well.

“I know,” Ryan said. “I will return.” He glanced up and caught Colin looking up at him as well with a small smile on his lips, but it didn't reach his eyes.

“You better.”

In the end he hoped that what he was doing was right, that letting himself fall was the right thing to do, even if it broke him in pieces. He wanted to stay, but in the end the self preserving part won out over the heart. He was old enough to know that it was killing his spirit to stay in a place that made him miserable, and eventually it would sour all his other feelings, including his feelings for Colin, and he could not let that happen.

~*~

Spring had arrived in the valleys and meadows of Whoserland, but winter still had a grip on the mountains, though it was letting go a little bit more each day. The castle courtyard was still covered in snow that glittered in the spring sun, and from the rooftops of the castle came a steady dripping from the snow slowly melting. It was on this day that Greg opened the castle door and found Ryan on his doorstep. A tall man towering over Greg even when leaning against the wall, his head bowed, but when Greg opened the door he looked up slowly, a slightly sheepish look on his face.

“Hello,” Ryan said. Greg wasn't even trying to hide his surprise from showing on his face. He looked past Ryan and saw a horse walking around on the courtyard, and Greg wondered how many ill tempered horses would eventually end up in his stable.

“Ryan,” Greg said, looking back at Ryan and raising an eyebrow. “I thought you were going to stay with Colin?”

Ryan looked down, biting his lip and scraping the toe of his boot against the stone.

“I wanted to,” Ryan said. “I tried.” He sighed and looked up at Greg. “The life in court wasn't for me.”

Greg tilted his head to the side a bit.

“And what about the farm and the sheep?”

Ryan let out a chuckle, his eyes crinkling in an endearing manner.

“Sheep are stupid,” Ryan said. He took a deep breath. “Can I come in?”

“If you want to,” Greg said. He wasn't sure why Ryan wanted to come to Greg's castle of all places, but he wasn't going to turn him away. Once he would have, when Greg was telling himself he wanted to be alone.

“It's a good thing you are here,” Greg said. “I've been trying to take care of your horse. Is she really a horse and not a monster pretending to be a horse?”

Ryan laughed, his eyes lighting up a bit and Greg had to look away.

“She's not so bad,” Ryan said.

“She has tried to kick me to death,” Greg complained. “I have bite marks. Look.” He pulled up the arm of his shirt and showed off the bite marks on his arm. Then he pulled up the shirt and showed the evidence of the time when the horse had gotten real lucky and managed to bite Greg on the side, above his waist. Before Greg had pulled down his shirt Ryan reached out a hand, trailing his fingertips over the bruise on Greg's side. Greg glanced up over the rim of his glasses, giving Ryan a questioning look. Ryan pulled back his hand and didn't meet Greg's eyes.

“I'll have a word with her,” Ryan mumbled. He looked over his shoulder at the horse he'd left in the courtyard.

“Where's the stable?”

“Around the side of the castle,” Greg said and nodded to his left. 

Ryan nodded and walked over to his new horse. Gathering its reins he started leading it away. Greg looked at him, frowning a bit, before he walked back inside the castle.

Greg sat down in the great hall and started reading while waiting for Ryan. He was finding it difficult to properly focus on the words in the book however. After a while Greg started to wonder if perhaps he should have accompanied Ryan to the stable, but at that moment Ryan entered the great hall.

“This place is a maze,” Ryan said.

Greg had to agree with that statement, it was a bit of a maze, several corridors going in circles or leading nowhere at all; oddly shaped rooms; doors that had nothing but a wall behind them; doors that had rooms behind them but no doorknobs. Greg hadn't designed the castle, it was his uncle Mike who built it. Mike hadn't been particularly bothered with architecture or ideal locations, he had been more interested in finding a secluded place where he could continue his work trying to teach rats to build furniture. Unfortunately Mike had died in an accident involving a hatstand, a magical walking bed, and a very large explosion caused by a bunch of rats; Greg had inherited the castle and all of the furniture, including half a hatstand.

“Yeah,” Greg said with a smile. “But you found me.”

“I did,” Ryan said.

“So, did you have a talk with your horse?” Greg asked, changing the subject.

“Yes,” Ryan said. “She was very excited to see me, but then got terribly upset about the arrival of a new horse.” He paused with a thoughtful look on his face. “I'm sure she'll calm down in a few days.”

“Sure,” Greg said, not really believing that. He looked around at all the books still lying around in the great hall. The day before he'd even added more books from the study to the collection in the hall.

“You feel like helping carrying all of this to my study?” Greg asked.

“Sure,” Ryan said and smiled. Greg glanced away so as to not stare too long.

Halfway through carrying the books, Kittens showed up and demanded cuddles from the new arrival, and so they took a break. Greg went to the kitchen to prepare food, leaving Ryan on a couch that had been in the study all along, but which Greg had forgotten about until all the books had been moved to the great hall.

When Greg returned to the study Ryan had fallen asleep, head tipped back, mouth open as he snored and Kittens was curled up in his lap, one of Ryan's large hands resting on top of Kittens and almost covering him. Greg put the tray he was carrying on a nearby table, the advantages of having all the books in the great hall was all the free space that had been cleared in the study. Greg leaned against the doorjamb and watched Ryan. Greg wasn’t alone anymore, but he couldn’t help wondering how long it would last.

~*~

Greg was writing a letter to Clive, making up a bullshit excuse for why he once again would miss a MUU meeting, when Ryan entered the study and dropped down in the sofa with a sigh. Greg glanced up at him. A couple of days had passed, Greg and Ryan had moved all the books back into the study and it was impeccably organized for the first time in years, but Greg didn't think it would last long before chaos descended upon it again.

“Has the horse forgiven you yet?” Greg asked. Ryan sighed, tipping his head back onto the back rest he shook his head, his eyes closed.

“She's very stubborn.”

“A lot like you then,” Greg mumbled and turned back to his letter. He heard Ryan scoff, and Greg couldn't stop himself from smiling.

“What are you doing?” Ryan asked.

“Writing a letter,” Greg said.

“I can see that,” Ryan said. Greg snorted.

“I'm explaining why I think it's a waste of my valuable time to come to the next MUU meeting.”

“MUU?”

“Magic Users United.” Greg looked up. “I did not come up with that name.”

“I believe you.”

Ryan gave Greg a long scrutinizing look.

“Why aren't you going?”

Greg had a lot of reasons, but the look on Ryan's face made Greg forget all of them, because they were all just such minor complaints he had, and he realized the main reason was that he wanted to spend more time with Ryan.

“I don't know,” he said, and shook his head. “It doesn't matter.” He signed his name on the message, waved a hand over it making the ink dry in an instant before rolling it up and putting it in an envelope.

“Kittens,” Greg said looking around himself. Kittens wasn't sleeping in his usual top drawer of the desk, nor playing on the floor. He frowned and spun around on his chair, spotting Kittens sleeping on the top of the closest bookshelf. Sighing and shaking his head Greg got up and started to reach for Kittens, but he was too short.

“Let me,” Ryan said. Greg flinched, surprised because he hadn't heard Ryan get up from the couch and now he was right behind Greg, his chest pressed up against Greg's back. Ryan reached up to grab Kittens and Greg turned around so that he was facing Ryan instead. Ryan handed him Kittens with a smile. Greg took him and tilted his head back, looking up at Ryan, mouth dry all of a sudden.

“Um,” Greg said. Ryan seemed to realize they had literally no personal space between them and took a step backwards, a faint blush on his cheeks as he looked away. Greg tried not to look at him, walking back to the desk instead. He pulled out the small harness for Kittens and put it on him, Kittens wriggled and tried to escape. Greg fastened the envelope on the harness.

“You're using the kitten instead of a messenger bird?” Ryan asked, sounding a bit confused.

“He's magical,” Greg said with a shrug. “He can travel as fast as I ask him to.” He grinned. “Besides, it's more fun than using an owl.” He glanced at Ryan who was smiling.

“You're right about that.”

Later that evening after dinner, they sat down for a chess game. It was something they'd started doing every evening. The fire was lit in the fireplace in Greg's sitting room, adjacent to his bedroom. Two comfortable armchairs were placed near the fireplace, and between them was the chess set, and quite often a bottle of something to drink.

The first couple of times Greg had won, but lately he was starting to believe that Ryan had been making it easier for Greg, because now Greg actually had to make an effort if he wanted to win.

“You know what you said to me,” Ryan said halfway through the game while waiting for Greg to make a move.

“About what?” Greg asked, distracted by the game. He was frowning at the board, glaring at what he thought was a set up for a trap by Ryan, but he couldn't figure out which piece to move so as to not set off the trap. “I've had time to say a lot of things to you.”

“Before,” Ryan said. “In the cave.”

Greg's hand had been hovering over a knight, but now he let his hand drop down to his lap and he worried his bottom lip with his teeth.

“Ah,” was all he said.

“You didn't send him away because you were angry about him lying, did you?” Ryan asked, giving Greg a piercing look. “You sent him away because you didn't want him leaving,” he paused. “Which you have to admit shows a very flawed logic from you.”

Greg frowned.

“You are very different from most knights. They never struck me as a particularly perceptive or clever bunch.”

“You've met the wrong knights,” Ryan said. Greg raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

“Alright,” Ryan said with a small smile. “There are a lot of them who probably wouldn't put it all together. But they would probably have killed you long before you had the chance to turn back instead.” Ryan looked at him. “Colin told me not to kill you.”

Greg looked away, he stared into the fire. He missed Colin. The worst thing about this conversation – which he didn't have a clue as to how to get out of – was that everything Ryan was saying was true, and it was a painful reminder of what Greg had done.

“And I listened to him,” Ryan continued to say. “I would have preferred to just take Colin with me and leave you alone.”

“I know,” Greg said, and he did know. During the previous evenings chess games many of their conversations had revolved around Ryan's adventures, what he'd done, what he'd accomplished, and Greg had been surprised just how often it seemed like Ryan was able to come to a peaceful solution to any situation he found himself in. Greg was not only surprised, but impressed as well.

Greg moved his bishop straight into Ryan's trap. Ryan smiled, a triumphant happy smile, and Greg felt something warm inside of him growing.

~*~

Ryan had never met a wizard before in his life, they kept to themselves most of the time, lived in remote places and seldom wandered among the general public. He'd always heard stories about them however, and Greg didn't fit the descriptions of a wizard. In all the stories they were old men, with long white hair and even longer grey beards; Greg didn't have a long beard, he was always clean shaved except for on days when he was working from early dawn and forgot to do things like shave and eat; he also didn't have long white hair, his hair was brown, and curly; he also didn't walk around dressed in long robes, instead Greg was always impeccably dressed in a suit and tie; he didn't have a magic staff, something Ryan had asked about and Greg had scoffed at and said most wizards didn't need one.

The things Ryan had noticed about Greg's personality the first time he met him as a dragon were still noticeable. It was the way he cared, but tried not to show just how much he cared about others, but it was obvious in the way he had welcomed Ryan; the way his gentleness showed through in the way he treated Kittens; even the fact that Greg had taken care of Ryan’s horse - a horse that made even the most seasoned stable hands cry and swear never to go near the animal again.

Greg wore an armor of indifference, he had built it up - Ryan presumed after Jen had left - to prevent himself to grow too close to people, but there were cracks in it. Spending more and more time with Greg it was easier and easier to see the cracks, and make them bigger; the same way Ryan had become obsessed with making Colin laugh, he couldn’t get enough of trying to make Greg show that he cared again; that he would let himself believe others could care for him.

It was easy to be around Greg, Ryan felt comfortable talking to him, but he also felt comfortable just sitting in the same room as him in silence, because there was just something so enjoyable being in Greg's company. Weeks passed and Ryan was barely even aware of the passing of time, except for when he thought of Colin, when he stood on one of the balconies staring south and wondering what Colin was doing. They mentioned him often, talked about him without actually admitting to missing him, but it had to be evident in his voice and eyes, Ryan thought, because it was clear that Greg missed Colin.

Ryan felt torn, he wanted to travel back to Colin; wanted to see him again; wanted to hear him speak; wanted to see his smile again, but at the same time he wanted to stay where he was, he wanted to stay with the man he was falling for a little bit more every single day.

He had tiptoed around the issue with Colin, had never been able to come straight out and tell Colin about what he felt, how deeply he needed the other man, and now it was repeating itself with Greg; he would soar whenever Greg smiled at him or whenever Greg made him laugh; brushing against him by accident sent a tingling sensation all through his body, it was like touching an open flame with the palm of his hand, except it never really hurt him. He was drawn to him, and at the same time felt that he should be keeping the other man at a distance because nothing could happen, not with things the way they were now.

It was an overcast day, two and a half months after Ryan had arrived, the grey clouds covering the sky were dark and and foreboding, but it didn't start raining until right at the moment Greg and Ryan left the stable. As soon as Greg closed the stable door the sky just opened up, rain pouring down drenching them both in a matter of seconds.

Ryan tipped his head back, letting the rain hit his face, and he smiled. He felt a hand on his wrist, followed by Greg saying in the fondest tone of voice Ryan had ever heard him use:

“Come on now you tall idiot.”

Ryan smiled, and let himself be tugged along as they started to jog. The smile turned into laughter which in turn made Greg laugh, and it felt as if Ryan was going to burst with happiness.

Laughing like teenagers they stumbled inside. Ryan tripped on a pair of boots, he crashed into Greg and pushed them both up against a wall. They stood like that leaning on each other for balance as they laughed. He wasn't sure what they were laughing at, but hearing Greg laugh made Ryan happy. They leaned their foreheads together as their laughter died down, until they were only standing there pressed together sharing each others air.

Ryan lifted his hands, putting them on the sides on Greg's face. Eyes closed and noses bumping, Ryan's breath hitched, there was something hot and demanding in his stomach, he felt like he was on fire. Their lips were so close they were almost kissing. He wanted so badly to close that distance between them, that last bit of distance that was no more than an inch but felt like miles. He couldn't do it, couldn't make himself close it. He felt so conflicted, he wanted it, but something was stopping him.

"We shouldn't," Ryan whispered, voice almost cracking.

“Why not,” Greg asked, breathless, and Ryan felt like he was flying again – that same feeling of being terrified out of his mind, but also more alive than he had ever been before in his life – that exhilarating feeling of being free and capable of anything.

“Because you are in love with Colin,” Ryan said, trying to bring himself down to the ground again.

“So are you,” Greg said. “And I want you both.”

Ryan leaned his head back, but still with his chest pressed against Greg, he opened his eyes and looked into Greg's. He looked at Ryan with something close to desperation. Greg licked his bottom lip. Ryan let one hand drop to Greg's shoulder, the other he moved until he had his hand underneath Greg's chin, tilting his head up, thumb pressing against Greg's bottom lip.

“Me too,” Ryan whispered.

~*~

Life was really unfair in Colin's honest opinion. He was watching the almost annual jousting fest – sometimes his mother would out of spite refuse to arrange it because her advisers had once again told her she wasn't allowed to participate – but he wasn't really paying attention to it. Instead he kept thinking about Ryan, and how even though the best of the knights had all been gathered on the arena next to the castle Ryan wasn't there. 

Colin had taken Ryan for granted when he was there. It had been nice having him around, really nice. He liked Ryan a lot, in fact he had realized he liked him an awful lot. Ryan was surprisingly gentle for a knight, he was warm and handsome with a smile that could make anyone a little bit weak in the knees. Colin’s feelings for Ryan weren’t enough in the long run though, they couldn’t be, not with the way it had ended with Greg; it could never be enough when Colin couldn't stop staring to the mountains. 

He wasn't sure when he realized he wanted them both – it was right before or right after Ryan left – at one point he had finally realized, but by then it was too late. It hadn’t taken long for Colin to realize that Ryan would leave eventually, he had been able to see it on the other man, Ryan had been so obviously miserable in the castle whenever he was around anyone who wasn’t Colin. Ryan hadn't talked about it much, but it was evident in his tone of voice when he talked about the other people; evident in the way he pulled himself behind invisible armor to protect himself, and became less of himself.

Ryan had to leave, that much Colin could understand because he understood Ryan, but Colin missed him. As much as he missed Greg he also missed Ryan, he wanted them; needed them both and it had been a strange realization, that he could love two people just as much at the same time. He needed them both in his life, and he had to tell them, but unlike Ryan he wasn't able to just leave. He wanted to leave, desperately so, but he had a duty to fulfill. 

Later after the day's festivities, before the banquet, he was cornered in a corridor by his mother's friend Linda who looked at him with a warm expression. 

"Shouldn't you be in the dining hall for the celebrations in Sir Wayne's honor?"

"Oh, was he the winner?" Colin said, he really hadn't been paying attention.

"Yes," Linda said and smiled. “You seem a bit distracted lately,” she said.

“I have a lot to think about,” Colin said, and sighed. “I kind of wish I hadn't been born a prince.”

“And a lot of people wish they'd been born royal,” she said still smiling. “Everyone has problems, and difficult things to deal with, but you have a better position for dealing with them.”

She gave him a long look and then shook her head.

“Perhaps you should talk to your mother. She still wants the best for you.”

“I know,” Colin said, before he could stop himself he blurted out: “The staff thinks you are a witch.”

She laughed.

“No, no I'm not,” she said. “But then all they saw was their Queen being depressed over the death of her husband, until I showed up. To them it looked as if all I did was wave a magic wand and suddenly she was happy again.”

“That's not what it was, was it?” Colin asked. She smiled, a secretive little smile.

“Definitely not,” she said. She paused, and looked at him with a concerned expression “But, you should talk to your mother. Perhaps not about me, but about your problems. She will listen.” She sounded convinced by what she was saying. Colin gave her a slightly doubtful look.

“I'll think about it.”

He headed for the dining hall and stayed there for most of the evening. There was a lot of good food and drink. He stayed late enough to see Sir Wayne drink so much he almost fell over and had to be carried from the hall by his squire Jonathan. Colin left before his mother however, who had challenged both Sir Jeff and Chip to a drinking contest. Getting ready for bed that night Colin was surprised when Kittens climbed in through his open window. 

“Kittens,” Colin exclaimed in surprise. Kittens looked up at Colin in what was a surprisingly demanding way for a cat, and meowed. Colin picked up the kitten and felt the harness around its body, an envelope was fastened to it; after removing the envelope, Colin let Kittens climb up on his shoulder before he read the very short message: _“I'm sorry.”_

Looking at the message Colin came to a decision.

~*~

The next morning Colin knocked on the door to his mother's suite. After hearing a chambermaid calling for him to enter Colin opened the door to the room. This particular morning Queen Laura of the Mochrie family, tenth regent in line and sixty two years of age, was busy with her fencing lessons against a man at least thirty years younger than her. Her two maids were watching with wide eyes and concerned expression.

“Mother,” Colin started, and watched as his mother delivered a dangerous swing towards the knight, who jumped to the side at the last second with a terrified expression on his face. “Aren't you a little old for fencing?”

“You are only as old as you feel, Colin dear,” she said. Colin wondered briefly if all people had mothers like his and how they dealt with them.

Colin stood awkwardly in front of the door and said:

“Could I have a word with you? In private.”

“Well of course, dear,” Laura said and she waved a hand to her maids who scurried out of the room. She kissed the man on the cheek and told him he'd been very good, but maybe he should practice a bit more, before sending him away as well.

She walked over to the fireplace and hung up the sword above the mantelpiece. Colin recognized the sword at that moment and remembered that it was a priceless family heirloom. The sword was over five hundred years old, Colin's great, great, great, great, great grandmother had used it when she and Colin's great, great, great, great, great grandfather had liberated Whoserland from the lizard people. Colin's history teacher had told him that 'lizard people' were a translation of a very old word that actually was supposed to mean 'dragon'. Colin had chosen to believe him, instead of having nightmares about giant lizards walking on two legs and wielding broadswords. 

Colin held out a neckerchief for her, she took it, wiped a bit of sweat from her forehead and handed it back to Colin before sitting down. Colin didn't comment on how her hair was in disarray, or that her dress had a long scratch in it. He was sure someone else would bring it up and get a 20 minute lecture on why appearance was a shallow and meaningless thing; or a 20 minute rant questioning why no one had mentioned it before. It was difficult to tell with his mother, which was why Colin tried not to make too many comments around her. 

Still holding the neckerchief awkwardly in one hand - he had assumed she would keep it and not give it back - he sat down in the other arm chair. 

“So, what is it?” Laura asked, suddenly going into Concerned Mother Mode.

“Um,” Colin said. He took a deep breath and exhaled. He fiddled with the neckerchief in his hands for a second before putting it in a pocket. “Is it possible to love more than one person?” He asked, glancing up at his mother.

“Of course,” she said smiling, something dreamy coming over her expression, and Colin did not want to know what that was all about.

“More than one at the same time?” Colin asked. She laughed a little and gave him a warm, fond look.

“Dear, there are no right ways or wrong ways of love,” she said, but then got a thoughtful look on her face, and looked away from Colin. “Although, there were a few nasty rumors about your grandfather and a horse.” She looked quickly back to Colin. “Your grandfather on your father's side obviously,” she added hastily. In her eyes her own father could never do anything wrong. Colin wisely did not mention the time his grandfather - Laura's father - declared war on winter, a war which had never been officially ended, so technically it was still an ongoing war.

“Do you know what you want?” Laura asked. “Because if you do, then you should go for it.”

“I have the power to do almost anything I want,” Colin said. “But it doesn't help in this situation.”

Colin swallowed and took a deep breath and exhaled.

“I don't want to be king, mum.”

She sighed and closed her eyes.

“I know, dear,” she said and looked back at him again, her eyes understanding. “But you can't end the monarchy because you are in love.”

Colin had other reasons. He had spent hours talking to Greg, had read all the books Greg recommended to him about democracy, about letting the people chose their own way of being governed. Their discussions had prepared him for just a moment when he would have to convince his mother, and he was supposed to bring up all those arguments, but instead his first impulse was to make a joke. 

“But I can, though, can't I?” Colin said, “I'm the prince, if I want to dismantle the monarchy on a whim I can do that.”

“Oh dear,” Laura said, and this time it wasn't a term of endearment. She was looking at Colin like a second head was growing out of Colin's neck. “I really hoped that you hadn't inherited The Madness.”

The Madness manifested itself in about fifty percent of the members of the Mochrie family, all of them men, which was why most of the regents in the family had been women. It usually manifested itself as delusions of grandeur; later it turn into mad ravings, with frothing and howling at the moon, often after a devastating loss in a war started because of the delusions of grandeur. It was rumored that Laura's father suffered from it as well, but because he never showed signs of the second stage it was never confirmed. 

“I don't have The Madness,” Colin protested. “It's far too late for it to suddenly start manifesting itself, besides I don't have a tail.”

“The tail happened in only one case, no one is sure if it's actually related,” Laura said.

“Mum,” Colin said, completely serious now. “I've never wanted to be king.” 

She sighed and looked away from him for a moment.

“Have you been speaking to Linda?” she asked.

“Uhm, what?” Colin said. “She spoke to me yesterday, told me that I should maybe talk to you, but she didn't say anything about this.”

His mother looked back at him with a small smile.

“Ah, I see,” Laura said. “She's been talking to me about it, you see.”

"About what? Me, not wanting to be a king?"

"Democracy, dear, she's very passionate about it, and can be very convincing." She looked away from Colin, glancing at her bedroom door and smiled, before looking back at Colin, still smiling.

“Then I don't have to convince you?” Colin asked. All he wanted to do was leave, he didn't want to stay, but he couldn't leave as long as he had responsibilities to the kingdom and responsibilities to his mother.

“It's not that easy,” she said.

“I know,” Colin said with a sigh. He shook his head. “But, I have to leave.”

“Yes you probably do. But you are going to be the one to finish this, Colin. I can start the process, but in the end, when I am gone, you will have to be the one to make it real.”

Colin looked over to the sword above the fireplace.

“They are going to be disappointed,” Colin said. Laura snorted and shrugged.

“They're dead, what does their opinion matter?” She turned to Colin and looked at him, smiling, and her eyes were filled with love.

“I am proud of you, Colin. I really am, and as your mother I want you to be happy,” she sighed. “It's not easy, balancing being a mother and a Queen.”

“You did a good job, mum,” Colin said. She laughed.

“There's no need to lie, dear.”

“But you did,” Colin said. “Mostly at least, but compared to everyone I read about from our family history, I'm glad you were the one to raise me.”

“Thank you,” she said, with a laugh.

“I am leaving though,” Colin said. She nodded and sighed.

“I wish,” she paused, and shook her head. “Never mind.”

“You wish you had a daughter,” Colin finished for her.

“No, yes. I wish I had a daughter as well.” She leaned forward and ruffled Colin's wig. “I never would have changed you for anyone. I am very proud of how you turned out.”

“That's good to hear,” Colin said. She leaned back again and gave him a thoughtful look.

“Perhaps you should stop wearing the wig. I could make a royal decree, saying baldness is the new fashionable thing.”

Colin chuckled and got up.

“Good bye, mother.” 

She rose as well, taking one of his hands in both of hers, squeezing it.

“Visit me occasionally.”

“I will,” Colin said. He kissed her on the cheek and turned, leaving the room. 

On the other side of the door he ran into Linda.

“It went well I take it?” she asked, with a smile.

“She was in a particularly good mood today,” Colin said. “Very reasonable for once.”

“I believe I can take credit for that,” Linda said. Colin gave her a confused look.

“What?” he asked. She just smiled, winked at him and walked into the room to join Laura. Baffled Colin walked away from there.

~*~ 

On his way to the stable - carrying a lot of his belongings in saddle bags, and Kittens in one of the bags as well - Colin ran into Jeff who was heading in the same direction. The young knight was sitting on a large black stallion, and it looked as if the horse was making most of the decisions.

“Hey, your Highness, what happened to your hair?” Jeff called out. He had a big bright grin on his face, which was wiped away when the horse tried to buck him off. Jeff stayed on by sheer will power, Colin suspected, as Jeff no longer had his feet in the stirrups; and seemed to not hold the reins at all, in favor of a white knuckled grip on the horse's mane.

“Are you sure you should be riding that horse?” Colin asked, instead of answering Jeff's question.

“I bought him,” Jeff said, the wide boyish grin returning.

“Of course you did,” Colin said with a shake of his head. The stallion stopped and started eating the leaves from a nearby bush. Jeff took advantage of the stop to get his feet back in the stirrups and taking hold of the reins again.

“Where are you going?” Jeff asked.

“To finally do what I want,” Colin said. Jeff looked confused. Colin smiled and waved as he continued walking.

“Good luck with everything, Jeff.”

“Thanks,” Jeff called back, while trying to get the horse to move forward. The horse did not move forward. Colin held back a chuckle.

He reached the stable where he got a horse ready and soon he was off, heading north to the mountains again. Colin hadn't been able to leave with his knight in shining armor, so he was going to have to find him now instead, his knight as well as his wizard.

~*~

After getting lost twice Colin was almost there at last. He was coming to a bend in the path, and the rest of it was obscured by a cliff, when he heard commotion ahead of him. He hurried around the bend and saw three centaurs, all of them armed with broad swords, and he also saw Greg and Ryan.

Colin had time to really take in the scene in front of him before anyone noticed him. Ryan was being attacked by two of the centaurs further away to Colin's left, while the third was holding Greg in an arm lock, still on the path in front of Colin while Greg cursed and shouted.

“Ryan! Greg!” Colin shouted, and rode forward before thinking it through. He had to help them and that impulse overrode coming up with a decent plan before riding into action.

“Colin!” Greg exclaimed, surprised. One of the two centaurs attacking Ryan turned on Colin instead. Colin pulled his own sword and rode towards the centaur. None of Colin’s sword training had been on horseback, but he felt reasonable sure he could manage.

The centaur came running towards him, sword raised and expression of rage on his face. Colin turned his horse so that its side was against the approaching centaur, and Colin lifted his sword to parry the blow.

The clanging of swords continued until the centaur broke lose and circled Colin's horse, and Colin didn't have time to react before the centaur used his own backside to ram Colin's horse. The horse stumbled and threw Colin off. Colin fell to the ground and dropped his sword which skittered across the ground, out of Colin's reach. The horse gained its footing again and fled. Colin struggled to get up, when the centaur came up to him and towered over Colin.

At that moment Colin heard a scream and he looked towards Greg, but he wasn't the one screaming, it was the centaur. Colin saw lighting coursing through the centaur's arms, and it let go of Greg.

“Greg!” Colin shouted. Greg looked up at him, and seemed to assess the situation. He started running towards Colin – and had covered almost the whole distance – when the centaur he had injured gave chase and was able to trip Greg. Greg fell to his knees but grabbed a branch lying on the ground. A purple light encapsulated the branch and a moment later Greg was holding a sword. He slashed behind him, lucky enough to get the centaur to back off.

Both Colin, and the centaur attacking him, had been distracted by what was going on with Greg. Colin made it to his knees, just as Greg got to his feet and threw the sword towards Colin. Colin caught the handle and rolled on the ground underneath the centaur, thrusting the sword up he punctured the beast's stomach and it stumbled away from Colin.

Colin got to his feet, hefting the sword in his hand, marveling at how perfectly balanced it was, before he focused his attention on the centaur attacking Greg, but Greg seemed to have it under control. Lighting was once again coursing through the centaur, and it fell down to the ground, stunned.

Colin heard Ryan yelp, Colin spun towards him and saw that Ryan had been pushed to the ground. Ryan’s sword was lying a few feet away from him, and the centaur loomed over him.

“Colin!” Greg shouted, and held out a hand to Colin. Colin ran to Greg who grabbed Colin's arm. He felt a tingling sensation shooting through his arm before a purple light surrounded his arm.

“Jump,” Greg said. Colin didn't even hesitate, he jumped. Whatever Greg had done, it had worked, because Colin sailed through the air, jumping higher and longer than humanly possible. He landed with a thud on the back of the remaining centaur. Colin hit the centaur in the head with the broad side of the sword. The centaur stumbled to the side, away from Ryan. When the centaur moved, Colin lost his balance, he grabbed the ponytail with one hand, flailed a bit with the hand holding the sword, cutting the centaur in its side. It bucked, and Colin fell off; he landed in a heap on the ground with a grunt of pain.

Colin looked up and saw Greg grabbing hold of the centaur, stunning it with lighting. Colin got to his feet and walked up to Ryan. He held out a hand which Ryan took, and Colin pulled him up.

“Are you alright?” Colin asked. Ryan didn't answer, instead he put one hand at the back of Colin's head and pulled him into a kiss. Colin melted into it, closing his eyes and leaning against Ryan. Ryan's arm went around Colin's waist, holding him up as he deepened the kiss and Colin moaned into Ryan's mouth. Colin wrapped his arms around Ryan's neck, pulling him closer; he wanted more, wanted everything Ryan could give him.

Breaking the kiss they leaned their foreheads against each other.

“I'm alright now,” Ryan whispered. Colin chuckled, before he felt a hand on his arm. He turned around and saw Greg. Greg was standing there behind him, an uncertain look on his face, his hair disheveled, suit jacket torn, and large patches of dirt on his pants. Before Colin could think too much he grabbed Greg's tie and pulled him closer. Wrapping the tie around his hand he put his other hand the back of Greg's hair, pulling him into a kiss.

The full realization of what had almost happened hit him, he'd been so close to losing them both. Had he been any later he could have found them both dead instead of alive and well. He put all of himself into the kiss, all the desperation, all the want and desire; Greg made a pleased sound, and met Colin's onslaught with a passion and desire matching his.

He could have lost them, before doing this; before kissing them; before laying himself open to them. Colin had kissed his fair share of men and women in his life, and while he had enjoyed those encounters, there was something special about these two kisses; there was a happy feeling in his stomach, it was as if something was bubbling inside of him, making him feel lighter and he had to smile against Greg's soft lips.

He broke the kiss, panting a little. Ryan was standing next to him, while Colin was still pressed up against Greg's chest. Ryan put a hand underneath Greg's chin and tilted his head back, before leaning in and capturing Greg's mouth in a soft kiss. 

Colin realized he still had a tight grip on Greg's tie, but he didn't let go just in case. He watched the kiss grow more heated and he felt himself appreciating the sight a lot, they were both so utterly gorgeous. He licked his lips, they were still tingling from the kisses.

Ryan wrapped an arm around Colin's waist, pulling them all tight together, before breaking the kiss with Greg.

“I missed you guys,” Colin whispered.

“We missed you,” Ryan said, moving his head to nuzzle at Colin's neck, underneath his ear, while Greg smiled and leaned forward giving Colin a quick peck on the lips.

“We should make our way up to the castle again,” he said against Colin's lips, and then pulled back, glancing over his shoulder.

“The centaurs are going to wake up, and they are going to be pissed.”

Ryan chuckled, blowing hot air against Colin's skin and he shivered.

They made it up to the castle and once inside there was groping and more kissing.

~*~ 

The sun shining through the large windows woke Ryan. The curtains on the large four poster bed wafted a little in the breeze coming in through one of the windows left open the previous night. He was lying there in a tangle of limbs, the sun rays warming his body where it was exposed to the chilled air in the room, and not covered by someone's arm or leg; they had kicked the covers to the foot of the bed at some point during the night.

He heard an annoyed meow from the window, Ryan looked over and saw Kittens climbing in through it. The kitten looked very displeased for a cat, as it eyed the full bed, before jumping down on the floor. Walking across the room, Kittens jumped up on the bed, and laid down near Ryan's head.

Ryan yawned and stretched as much as he could without disturbing the other two. He failed as he heard one of them make a displeased sound to his left, he turned his head and saw Colin opening his eyes, and looking up at him. Ryan smiled and pressed a quick kiss to Colin's forehead.

“I love you,” Ryan said. He felt comfortable, happy and for the first time in a long while he was free to voice his feelings, and it all felt so right. He was lying in the same bed as Colin and Greg, the two men he had fallen in love with, against all odds; everything was as it should be.

“I love you too,” Colin said, smiling.

He had his head on Ryan's shoulder, he kissed the bare skin next to him before pushing himself up on one arm and reaching over Ryan to Greg, who was lying with his head on Ryan's stomach. Colin poked Greg on the cheek twice before he even got a response. Greg made a grumbling noise and squirmed a bit, tickling Ryan’s stomach with his hair. Ryan wriggled, and let out a short chuckle. Greg's hand, which was resting on Ryan's leg, clamped down.

“Be still,” he muttered.

“We are declaring our undying love for each other,” Colin said. “You want to participate?”

“Yes, yes-” Greg said, and was interrupted by a yawn. “Love you two,” he said. Ryan wasn't sure if he said two or too. He used his free hand to ruffle Greg's hair. Greg's hand left Ryan's leg in order to capture Ryan's hand, and he put their linked hands on Ryan's stomach.

Ryan couldn't remember ever being happier than he was in this moment, together with these two men; it was definitely a lot better than spending the rest of his life alone on a farm raising sheep. He breathed in and smiled, content with life.

Once upon a time, three different men – a prince often confused for a princess, a wizard temporarily turned into a dragon, and a knight ready to pack away his shining armor - came together through the strangest of circumstances, and together they lived happily ever after.


End file.
